The House of Kuchiki
by Setarah
Summary: Possible Spoilers. Hisana and Byakuya meet walking one night, sparking a companionship that could disgrace the Kuchiki Clan. I stink at summaries, my prologue should cover most bases... read and review, please.
1. Prologue

**The House of Kuchiki**

PROLOGUE: AUTHOR'S NOTE

Hello there, everyone! This is my first attempt at a fic, so don't be too harsh on me, please. Comments and whatnot are appreciated, though, so don't be shy

As I said on the summary, I stink at summaries, so I'll try my best to cap everything here.

First off, this is **before** the storyline of Bleach. So Ichigo becoming a Death God hasn't happened. In fact, Rukia isn't a Death God yet either.

I'm only up to the beginning of the Bount arc, just finished the Soul Society arc. So if you haven't seen or read up to the end of the Soul Society mumbo-jumbo, there could be minor spoilers in this fanfiction. If you don't mind, continue reading.

Also, I'm probably going to deviate from the plotline with this story. Seeing as how I'm not too far in the series, I'm not sure if more information regarding Hisana and Byakuya will be revealed, so I'm just kinda going to wing it and make it up as I go along. Besides, this is a fanfiction, is it not?

This fanfiction will focus on the relationship between Hisana and Byakuya and the bond they form before and during their marriage. Rated PG-13 because I don't plan on it getting violent as of yet, but the rating could change.

**Also, as pointed out in a review, Byakuya's personality is Bleach OOC. That's because I'm making his personality change once Hisana's death has passed.** Prior to her death, I'm pretending (and assuming) he wasn't as emotionless or bitterly cold and distant.

As far as the title goes, I stink at titles more than I stink at summaries, but it will tie in eventually, I promise!

Thanks for reading! Leave me a review if you love me (or if you hate me, either one works.)

Much love,  
Setarah


	2. Chapter One

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER ONE

"_No, Rukia!" _

_A hand stretches out, shaking. Desperately reaching for the bundle in the alleyway, the distance between them grows larger and larger. The bundle, now phased into focus to be a baby, is crying weakly, hungry and cold in the rain. _

"_Rukia!" The hand continues to strain, the image of the baby fading to black as the distance becomes too large for eyes to see._

Hisana's eyes quickly fly open, revealing her hand outstretched towards the ceiling. Tears are streaming down her face and her futon's covers are a mess. She had been having the same nightmare for a while now, the thought of her baby sister starving in the rain haunting her very existence. There had been quite a number of rainfalls since she had abandoned Rukia in the alleyway of Inuzuri, and after each one she found herself going back to see if Rukia was there, only to find an empty space.

Hisana sat up and slowly stood, walking to the exit of her house and sliding the door open, looking up at the sky. It was late, judging from the silence and emptiness of the streets of Seireitei, and there was a gentle breeze.

_Perfect for a walk…_ Hisana thought, as she slipped on her sandals and took a step outside.

Hisana was a beautiful young woman, a rare gem found in the dirt that was the poor Rukongai district known as Inuzuri. Her eyes were a dark yet brilliant black, which had a faded glow from lack of sleep and food. Her hair, the same shade as her eyes, followed the general shape of her head, then turned out semi-dramatically at the start of her neck. She had inherited the hair from her mother, and the style of hair was similar to that of her grandmother's. A family heirloom, she had decided, and her sister was bound to have had the same hair, if she was still alive.

Hisana sighed quietly as she looked back up to the stars. _If I had just kept her and been a little stronger… I could know if she was alright for certain…_ Whether it meant still being in Seireitei or Rukongai, she would still be with her sister, and that was more than enough for her. It was always the same thought to cross her mind after the nightmare. If she had battled the unexplained hunger a bit more and dealt with the lack of energy to be able to feed Rukia… then maybe, just maybe, they would both be fine.

Of course, only two months later, the hunger was explained to her. Once she learned her hunger meant she had spirit force, she trained herself eagerly to gain entrance to Seireitei. Eventually, she made it into the Shinigami Academy and she swore, upon stepping foot out of Inuzuri and into the court, that she would train hard to become strong and go and find her baby sister.

It had been nearly eight months since she made it into the academy, and there wasn't even a trace of Rukia's existence to Hisana thus far. She sighed again and let her head drop down, watching her feet as she walked. As far as she was concerned, she was the only one who could possibly be walking so late at night, so looking ahead was completely pointless.

As Hisana turned the corner, she learned that she wasn't the only one taking a late night walk as she bumped into, knocked over and landed on top of a man she had never spoken to before, but had seen on several occasions:

Kuchiki Byakuya.

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**Well? What do you think? Read and review, please**


	3. Chapter Two

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWO

After a moment of shock, followed by a much delayed reaction, Hisana's face turned from a pale white to a bright shade of pink to a deep, almost crimson, red. She had been admiring this man for quite some time, watching him training in the distance as she was supposed to be doing her academy work. He couldn't be much older than she was and he was already a full-fledged Death God, and in a division, no less! On top of that, based on what she had heard, he was of noble blood. The Kuchiki Clan members were well respected, and, if she had heard correctly, Byakuya, who she was still on top of, was the head of the house now that his father had passed away.

_Now... was he the 27th or the 28th clan leader…? I don't quite remember what those girls were saying about him yesterday_... Continuing off in her own little world, Hisana remained completely still, still on top of a very stunned Kuchiki Byakuya.

Byakuya's eyes were wide as he quickly tried to compose himself. He didn't normally come up to anyone on his late night strolls, let alone get knocked over. Leaning up onto his elbows, he cleared his throat, shaking the woman out of her daze and back into reality. If at all possible, she seemed to turn even redder causing him to chuckle quietly as she jumped up quickly and dusted herself off.

"Oh my goodness! I-I-I... I'm s-s-so sorry!" Hisana stammered as she quickly stooped down to pick up Byakuya's signature scarf that she had knocked off, dusting it off as well and folding it nervously, yet neatly as Byakuya stood up and brushed away the dirt and dust from his plain white robe. He straightened the few strands of the dark hair that had been knocked out of place then looked at Hisana with his usual serene and aristocratic expression.

Hisana, who had just recovered to a shade of pink, turned bright red again and bowed her head down, offering his scarf up above her head. "I'm very, very, very, VERY sorry."

Taking the scarf gently, Byakuya put it where it had been, smiling softly at this woman's reactions. Sure, he was used to people treating him with respect in Rukongai because of his rank, but never like this within Seireitei. "There you see? No harm done."

Hisana's eyes slowly wandered up, noticing that he wasn't wearing his usual death god uniform. "I'm very sorry."

He shook his head. "No need to apologize. More importantly, are you alright?"

Hisana's eyes widened. "W-who? Me? Yes, sir. I'm fine."

"Ah, good. Would you care to join me then? I don't usually find people out this late, so a little company would certainly be enjoyable."

Hisana was almost knocked off her feet once more. THE Kuchiki Byakuya was asking HER to walk with him?

"Well?"

Snapping out of her daze once more, she looked around and realized that Byakuya was standing behind her, continuing on the route he was on before he was knocked over. "O-oh... Of course. I'd be honored, sir." Stepping towards him quickly to catch up, she met up with him, walking to his left side.

After a few moments of silence, Byakuya made an attempt to break the ice. "I imagine you know who I am, then." Byakuya, who was much taller than her, glanced down from the corner of his eye to see her with her hands nervously knotted together as she stared at her feet intently while walking.

"Y-yes. Yes, I do... sir." She added the last word with an internal sigh of relief. _Always be respectful_, she reminded herself.

"In that case... May I know who you are?" He looked back at the street in front of them.

"M-my name is Hisana." Nervous as she was, she was beginning to feel a little more comfortable around Byakuya and relaxed her hands down to her sides.

"Pleased to meet you, Hisana-san." Turning at the corner of the street with her, he smiled down at her, feeling her relax. They walked in silence for a while, both resuming their thoughts from before their collision.

Eventually, Hisana spoke up. "So... you mentioned that you don't find people when you go walking... do you walk often at night, Kuchiki-sama?"

Byakuya nodded. "I find the night air to be lighter and easier to think in. And with less commotion than the daytime, I can usually go undisturbed at night."

Hisana frowned and looked down to the floor once more. "I'm sorry if I disturbed your walk, sir."

"Having company isn't my definition of being disturbed. Contrary to what most may think… I enjoy walking with others, whether it be in silence or not." The latter was certainly preferred, he added mentally.

Hisana nodded respectfully, then frowned at the awkward tension in the air. "I… noticed you're not wearing your headpiece, sir."

"Hm? Oh, the kenseikan? I don't wear it to sleep."

"Yes, I'd imagine it to be uncomfortable to sleep in." They turned yet another corner. "So what brings you out walking tonight, Kuchiki-sama?" she continued, as if trying to keep the conversation going.

"I come to clear my mind if I find falling asleep to be a challenge. Tonight happens to be one of those nights… And yourself, Hisana-san?" He looked her over from the corner of his eye. She looked troubled… almost sad.

"I…" She frowned. "Just a childish nightmare."

He, in turn, frowned as well, then looked back to the street. "No dream or nightmare is ever childish, Hisana-san."

They turned another corner and Byakuya stopped in front of a corner house, stopping Hisana in her tracks. "This is your house, is it not, Hisana-san?"

She looked at him, eyes wide. "Your name is next to the door," he responded to her shock, understanding what she was thinking.

"Oh, that's right…" She smiled sheepishly, blushing slightly.

"You should try to get some sleep. Academy starts early tomorrow morning, does it not?"

Hisana nodded and took a step towards her living quarters, turning to face him and bowing. "Thank you for allowing me to walk with you tonight, Kuchiki-sama."

Byakuya nodded and gave a slight bow in return, then watched her go to the door and open it, stepping in and turning to face him. "Good night, Kuchiki-sama."

"Good night, Hisana-san." He watched her begin to close the door behind her. "Oh, Hisana-san."

She stopped abruptly and popped her head out. "Yes, Kuchiki-sama?"

"Next time you awake in the middle of the night, whether from a nightmare or thirst, don't hesitate to take another walk," he smiled softly and turned to head back the direction they came from. "Your company is a pleasant thing to have, should anyone else be lucky enough to bump into you."

With that, Kuchiki Byakuya stepped towards and then around the corner, heading back towards his manor.

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**sesshomaru-haku, thelovablechelsea and Comixqueen: Thanks for your reviews. I was waiting to see people's reactions before I posted more. **


	4. Chapter Three

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

**Gonna put replies to comments up here now :D**

Byukaxhisa4eva: Byakuya is, according to the series, OOC. But, I wanted to make him less cold and emotionless back THEN and then the loss of his wife changes him later on during what we see in Bleach.

Thelovablechelsea: Yay, you're back! Yes, he wasn't an emotionless person back then :D! And you'll get more night walks very, very soon.

evelynspj, Zammy, & animequeen100: Thanks for the reviews. :)

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER THREE

The sun came up the next morning and found its way through the shades of Hisana's windows to her closed eyelids. Opening her eyes slowly, she sat up and stretched, looking around slowly. She scanned the room and planned her 'battle plan', as she liked to call it, for the morning routine. _Shower, uniform, hair, food, pack my lunch, sandals, practice weapon, then leave,_ she decided with a nod as she stood up and headed towards the bathroom.

Stepping into the shower, she began slowly washing her hair, recapping the events of the previous night in her mind for what seemed to be at least the hundredth time she'd done so. She wasn't sure if it actually happened, but judging from how many details she remembered, it couldn't have been just a dream.

If it had been, however, it would have been the first nice one she had had in a long time.

She stepped out the shower soon after, having completed her shower routine. Drying herself off with the towel, she looked at herself in the mirror, still lost in thought.

_Would he actually have an interest in walking with me? _ Sliding open her closet, she picked out her school uniform and carefully began putting it on. _I mean... I don't even think he would have known of my existence had I not crashed into him._ _But even so... _Hisana shook her head, dismissing her seemingly crazy thoughts.

After straightening herself out in the mirror, she ran her fingers through her hair, then fetched her brush to brush out any knots. Hisana watched her hair go from the brushed-down straight it was after a shower to the usual style she was so used to with a sigh. Glancing out of the window, she frowned. _I should hurry up if I don't want to be late..._

Almost completely on the other side of Seireitei, Kuchiki Byakuya had just finished his morning tea with a sigh. The members of his house had bothered him about finding a wife again during breakfast that morning, and that certainly was a topic he was tired of talking about. Women of the noble class were so boring, and none of them even interested him in any way. As head of the clan, he felt he should have the decision as to who he married, when he married, and whether he married within his own social level. Apparently, though, doing so would be a disgrace to the noble name of the Kuchiki clan.

_They really couldn't have picked a worse time to throw finding a woman in my face..._ Byakuya frowned. Hisana seemed pleasant. She was certainly beautiful, and seemed to be kind. Her voice was almost melodic in a way, and he couldn't exactly explain what it was he liked about her eyes. Or the way she looked when she blushed.

Shaking his head to clear the thoughts running through his head, he stood. No, it was nothing. He was just tired. Lack of sleep, that was what all that was. Besides... She was from Rukongai, wasn't she? There was no way he could even consider being FRIENDS with her. And yet...

No. No, she just happened to surprise him, that's all. Threw him off guard. Kept him company on his usually solitary night walks... there was nothing there except that they were both turning the same corner at the same time. No more, no less. ... right?

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**There! Sorry if it's a little short, I just didn't wanna give too much away too quickly. Then things aren't much fun, right?**

**R&R, please. :D Chapter four should be up soon, keep an eye out. Also, after 5/28, school starts up again so updating MIGHT go a little slower. I tend to be a slacker when it comes to school work anyways, so it shouldn't affect this TOO much, but just in case.**

**Also, I wanted to throw this out there for you readers If you have anything you want to happen at one point or another, you can throw ideas out there in a review, or drop me a PM (Or find me on AIM: keedoe goes rawr).**


	5. Chapter Four

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

thelovablechelsea: Midnight walks are love, indeed. There will be another one soon. (Meaning chapter five. But that's our little secret.) And he's not allowed to admit it! It'll disgrace the family! (But what I say goes, and I certainly agree that he should.)

Mr. Cereal: :D I'm glad you like it so far. I'd really like to read yours sometime soon.

Zammy: Yeah, I'm trying not to make him TOO OOC when it comes to other people. But when it comes to Hisana... well... he certainly might not be the Byakuya we're used to. XD

animequeen100: I was actually going to do a lot of those ideas (or something similar) already. As far as having him FIND Rukia, I don't want to deviate from the actual plot of Bleach. This is pre-Bleach and Hisana's death will still happen in the exact same way and whatnot. And I think her dying wish is something that Byakuya has kept to heart, and that's something I don't want to change. But I agree that Hisana and Rukia should have been reunited before her death. :( I would have never thought of the clan spying, though. Thanks for the idea. I'll try my best to incorporate it. :D

Thanks, everyone, for your reviews

_A/N: Most people are used to the characters in this chapter being called by their last names. When I'm describing the person's actions, I'll use the name most people are used to, but at time, first names will be used during conversations._

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER FOUR

The day was moving agonizingly slow for Hisana and she was practically ready to do backflips when the bell sounded to alert students that the second to last class was finished.

A classmate ran up behind Hisana in the hall. "Hisana-chaaan!" Hisana turned around slowly.

It was Rangiku Matsumoto. "Oh, Rangiku-chan. I didn't know you were behind me..."

"You didn't know anyone was behind you, oh dazed one." Matsumoto giggled. "What's up? Is it a booooy?" Matsumoto put her hands behind her head while walking, showing off her signature chest size.

Hisana didn't answer with words, but responded with an all-telling blush instead.

"Ah, I see. Mind telling me the lucky guy's name?" All year, Hisana seemed the type that wasn't interested in boys, and now... she wasn't paying attention in class and was bolting out of classes to get to the next.

Hisana shook her head. She wasn't comfortable telling people such things, they were her thoughts and hers alone.

"Hm... alright... but I'll find out eventually..." They turned the corner of the hallway and into the courtyard where their final class took place. Matsumoto and Hisana's schedules were almost identical, aside from the fact that Hisana wasn't in the advanced demon magic classes that Matsumoto took. "Last class of the day. Is he in THIS class?"

Hisana shook her head. "He's not even in this school."

"Ah! So it IS a boy! I knew it!" Matsumoto struck a victory pose causing Hisana to blush. Oh, WHY did she have to open her mouth...?

After all their classmates had gathered, chatting had begun and Hisana stood off to the side, patiently waiting for their instructor to start the class. As if he had read her mind, the instructor walked to the middle of the courtyard and beckoned the class forward.

"We have a pleasant surprise for everyone today." The instructor turned to face the courtyard entrance and beckoned forward a group of people. "Graduated Death Gods have been sent to spar with each of you. I've asked the other teachers who occupy the other three courtyards to move their classes to another area for the day, so I'll be splitting you into groups of five. Everyone form a straight line facing to the right."

Hisana's classmates scrambled to form the line, and as always, Hisana waited patiently for the chaos to stop. Picking a spot next to Matsumoto, she watched as the Death Gods began approaching the group in a single file.

To show their discipline, the students kept their eyes straight ahead. As the line of graduates approached closer and began passing the line of students, Hisana couldn't help but notice that none of them strayed their glances to the students just to their left.

Just then, deep blue eyes glance briefly over at her, making eye contact for a moment before looking back ahead. Hisana blushed slightly and looked down at the ground.

"Alright. Now that everyone is in position..." Hisana looked up. All the Death Gods were lined up and facing the class, one for each student. "The Death God in front of you isn't necessarily who you will be partnered with."

"Would everyone except that first five graduates please exit to the courtyard you were assigned to before the class started?" Hisana let her eyes wander across the line to try to see who the first five were. As the Death Gods started leaving, she saw the blue-eyed person pass her again, causing her to look down at the floor again, disappointed. Excited whispers broke out from most of the girls in the class. "Kuchiki Byakuya is staying here!"

Hisana's head popped up almost instantly and she looked over at the five Death Gods remaining. They had formed a line closer to the instructor, and Byakuya was, indeed, standing among them.

"For those of you who don't know who these five are... Unohana Retsu, Hitsugaya Toshiro, Zaraki Kenpachi, Kusajishi Yachiru, and, as I'm sure all our female students know, Kuchiki Byakuya. Now, I will call five students' names and their assigned sparring partner."

"Hisagi Shuhei, please step forward." A boy near the middle of the line took one step forward. "You are partnered with... Unohana-san. Please stand across from her."

"Let's see... Hinamori Momo?" A young girl stepped forward. She had a tendency to be quiet, but she was rumored to be among the best in using demon magic of their grade. "You are with... Hitsugaya-san. Please stand across from him, as Shuhei did before you." Hinamori quickly moved to stand across from him with a smile, then stuck out her tongue quickly.

"Okay... who's next...?" The instructor looked down at his clipboard. "Ah, yes. Tosen Kaname, you're with Kusajishi-san. And... Matsumoto Rangiku is partnered with Zaraki-san." The two stepped forward and stood in their positions.

"Alright... last one. Ise Nanao." The girls in the class gave out a groan and went to look at Nanao with an evil glare. Nanao stepped forward triumphantly.

"No, excuse me... my mistake. I looked down one extra line... Nanao, please step back."

"Partnered with Kuchiki-san is..." He put his finger to the clipboard and went down and across to make sure.

"Hisana. Please step forward."

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**Dun dun duhhhh! I should just leave you all hanging! But I won't. I posted chapter five up. :D You know you love me!**


	6. Chapter Five

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Two for one! Yay! In this chapter! Byakuya vs Hisana! GASP! And then a night walk, as promised.

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER FIVE

Hisana's jaw dropped momentarily and she thought that she must've heard incorrectly. "Hisana-chan." Matsumoto beckoned her forward. "He called your name."

Hisana slowly stepped forward and made her way over to stand across from Byakuya, avoiding eye contact as much as possible by looking down at her shoes.

"Everyone else, exit the courtyard and meet me in the next courtyard for your assignments." The instructor began to hand out the weapons. As the rest of the students exited, Hisana felt her face go warm. He looked at her, hadn't he? Does that mean the night walk actually happened...? Maybe he just looked at her out of coincidence. Eye contact doesn't mean anything...

"The five of you will be sparring with these remaining Death Gods. You'll be using the practice weapons you've been using. I apologize, graduates, but your soul slayers are too strong for them, so we've gotten you some practice weapons as well. No demon magic allowed... this is for sword training only." Hisana wasn't paying much attention to the instructions, intently staring at her shoes and counting the pebbles around her feet.

"Now. Kuchiki-san and Hisana... you two will be over there in that corner." At this, Hisana looked up. All the others were already preparing to spar with their partners in their assigned areas. She followed the instructor's finger and turned to begin heading in that direction. Byakuya walked next to her silently.

As they arrived at their location, they stood facing each other. "We meet again, Hisana-san."

Hisana, who had convinced herself that it was just a dream and he just happened to meet her eyes at that moment, was taken aback. "That actually happened...?" Oh, no... she thought out loud again...

"Our conversation? Yes, I believe so." Moving his sword into fighting position, he took a step back. "We should get started before your instructor gets upset, hm?"

Hisana nodded and took a step back herself. She raised her sword up, and she could hear Hinamori shouting at Hitsugaya to stop flash-stepping. Blocking out all the sound from the courtyard, she could hear her heartbeat speed up as she focused on Byakuya. "Alright."

"I'll give you the first move then, Hisana-san. Whenever you're ready." Hisana nodded and got ready to lunge.

Jumping ahead, she was shocked when Byakuya blocked her attack with ease. "If you make it obvious as to what your move is going to be, you'll never land a hit."

Hisana jumped back and tried again, only to be blocked once more. Jumping back again, she frowned and lowered her weapon. Byakuya lunged at her quickly and put the practice weapon's point up to her neck. "Never let your guard down, Hisana-san."

Hisana's eyes were wide as Byakuya lowered his weapon and stepped back. "Now, try again."

Hisana nodded slowly and put her weapon up. Barely moving, she remained in that position while Byakuya waited patiently. Lunging quickly, she was blocked once again. "Better. Once more." Instead of jumping back, Hisana swung the weapon around, causing Byakuya to jump back in order to avoid it. He opened his mouth to speak but was cut off by the instructor's whistle, signaling the end of the class.

"Everyone, bring your weapons here. Make sure to bow to your Death God sparring partner for taking time out of their busy days to come here and help you out. Thank you, all of you, for coming."

Hisana was quick to bow. "Thank you for sparring with me, Kuchiki-sama."

Byakuya bowed his head in response. Hisana stood straight and began walking towards the intstructor with him. Putting her weapon down carefully, she watched Byakuya leave his weapon with the instructor and walking towards the other Death Gods.

Matsumoto watched Hisana. "Ah... I seeeee..." She smirked at Hisana. "Kuchiki Byakuya's the man who's stolen your heart, Hisana-chan?"

"W-what?! N-no! What are you talking about?!" Hisana turned bright red.

As everyone began leaving the courtyard, Byakuya and Hisana made eye contact once again. Nodding at her, he turned left to leave the academy grounds with the others. With his back turned to her, he lifted his hand up and gave a gesture of farewell. Hisana waved back sheepishly, walking into the building to collect her belongings with Matsumoto.

The rest of the day was almost a blur for Hisana. She collected her things, said goodbye to a smirking Matsumoto, and headed home. She vaguely remembered eating dinner and getting ready for bed.

It seemed her mind was occupied with other things, more specifically, a single person. _I wonder if he'll be out walking tonight...?_

She lay down under the covers of her futon and stared up at the ceiling. Five minutes passed.

Then ten minutes. Hisana closed her eyes to try to force herself to sleep, but to no avail. _It was much later last time... he wouldn't be out now..._

_Then again, though... it never hurts to try. _Hisana sat up and lifted the covers off. As she was going to stand, she stopped herself. _What if he isn't there...? Or... if he doesn't want my company tonight...?_

She stood up and got a glass of water. _There! Now I can say I woke up from thirst._

She brought the glass out with her as she left her house, closing her door quietly behind her. Walking down the street, she turned the corner and tried to remember the path she had taken when she last bumped into him.

"Let's see... Was it this corner...? Or the next...?" She frowned and stopped for a moment, looking around. Going straight, she chose the next corner out of sheer gut instinct. After continuing on for a little while, she heard someone's footsteps approaching from around the corner. The figure turned the corner slowly and she stopped in her tracks.

"Ah, Hisana-san. Twice in one day, I see." Kuchiki Byakuya, with his hair down and a glass of water in his hands, walked up to her. "Woke up from thirst as well, I take it?"

Hisana looked down at her glass and blushed, but nodded.

"Truth be told..." Byakuya frowned slightly and began walking in the direction Hisana came from. "I failed in my attempts to fall asleep."

Hisana turned to walk next to him. "Something on your mind, Kuchiki-sama?"

Byakuya didn't respond, and took a sip of his water.

"Do you... wish to talk about it?" Hisana also took a sip of her water.

Byakuya shook his head as they turned the corner. "There are some things, I'm sure, you would rather keep to yourself. My situation is one such as that."

Hisana nodded and looked down at her glass. "I understand. It's the same with my nightmares, I guess."

"The childish ones?" Byakuya glanced down at her, turning the corner to where her house was like the last time. Hisana nodded, and looked up to see her house.

"Do you... mind if we keep walking, Kuchiki-sama?"

Byakuya looked at her and smiled slightly. "Is it the walking or the conversation that you would like to continue, Hisana-san?"

"I... well... both, I suppose. But if I had to pick... the conversation." Hisana looked down at her glass once more.

_She looks sad again..._ Now that he thought about it, he hadn't even seen her smile once yet... "Well... then our next move is up to you."

Hisana looked up. "The night breeze is nice." Byakuya nodded. Hisana took a couple of steps passed her house. "Let's keep walking then, Kuchiki-sama."

Byakuya walked up next to her as they continued on. He didn't know what it was about this woman, but he enjoyed her company. She somehow seemed to settle the feeling of unease in his stomach... she made him feel comfortable. He looked down at her from the corner of his eye.

"It must be difficult..." Hisana broke the silence after a few moments.

"Hm?"

"To have to be the leader of a clan... It must be difficult. The things expected of you... Do you have any younger siblings, Kuchiki-sama?" Hisana took a sip of her water once more before looking down at her glass.

"No, I don't. I'd imagine being an older brother would be much harder than being a leader of a clan, however. Because then... every move I made would influence my siblings."

"But everything you do influences your clan, doesn't it?" Hisana looked up at Byakuya.

"Yes, but younger siblings would learn from what I did... the clan would just scold me or praise me. Whether I was right or wrong... my siblings would copy."

"Hm... that's true..." Hisana looked back at her glass.

"Do you have siblings, Hisana-san?"

"One... a baby sister. Rukia. She should be in Rukongai."

"Should be?"

"I don't ... know exactly where she is..." _After I abandoned her... _Hisana added mentally, frowning.

Byakuya glanced down at her. "I'm sure she's fine..."

Hisana nodded, trying to convince Byakuya that she agreed with him, "So... did your friends say anything about the sparring lesson today...?" Hisana made a miserable attempt to change the subject. Byakuya, understanding that the previous subject upset her, simply went along with it.

Turning a corner to head back in a box towards Hisana's house, he replied, "Kenpachi complained that the weapons were childish... and that his partner complained about her chest size too much...Toshiro was hit in the face by his partner and was complaining that it would bruise by the morning... Generally... a lot of complaints all around."

"And what did you think...?" Hisana blushed slightly.

"I had no complaints." They turned another corner.

At this, Hisana smiled. "I see." Her voice was different, Byakuya noticed, and glanced down to catch a glimpse of her smile.

After turning another corner, Hisana stopped in front of her house. "You know these streets far better than I do... I would have never known how to get back here other than turning around and retracing steps..."

Byakuya smiled at this. "I have a good sense of direction, that's all." He watched her as she stepped up to the door.

She slowly slid her door open and stepped inside, turning towards him again. Just like the night before, she bowed. "Thank you for allowing me to walk with you again, Kuchiki-sama."

Byakuya bowed slightly in response. "No, thank you for keeping me company, Hisana-san. Good night."

Hisana smiled once more, and began closing the door. "Good night, Kuchiki-sama."  
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**Wow this chapter was long-ish... o-o... Anyways. Chapter six should be up within the next two days if I'm not swamped with work. R&R, please!**


	7. Chapter Six

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

thelovablechelsea: Sake party! Woo! (There will be one soon, I swear.)

Conterra-san: :D Thanks for your review. Here's another chapter for ya.

animequeen100: Yay for bonding! There's certainly going to be plenty of it happening very soon. Patience on the whole kissing thing, though. All things come in time. ;D

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER SIX

"Kuchiki-sama!" Hisana ran down the hall leading to the courtyard. She had spotted him from all the exit of the classroom all the way down the hallway, and for some reason, she realized that she couldn't help running.

There were girls in a group near Byakuya, whispering to each other and turning back occasionally to look at Hisana with a glare. They were unhappy that Hisana, a girl not even in the Top-Secret Kuchiki Byakuya Fan Club, was able to spend so much time with him.

"I made you lunch again, Kuchiki-sama." She held up a box wrapped in a cloth for him with a smile. He took it and forced a smile, bowing a bit to thank her. Hisana frowned. _Something's wrong..._

Byakuya, who still hadn't said a word, turned and began walking to their usual eating spot: the spot that they were assigned during the sparring lesson. Finally, as they were drawing closer to their destination and away from the crowd of students, Byakuya spoke. "Do you remember when I first came to visit?"

Hisana nodded. "I was getting glares and dirty whispers from everyone..."

"Not much has changed, has it?"

Nearly two months had gone by and their late night walks continued. Their conversations began growing from the brief ones they had initially to longer conversations about various things that had occurred during the day. They had even added a game to the walks. Each night, one of them would reveal a random bit of information. Whether it was a favorite color, a pet peeve, or a random little secret of little importance, the other would reply with a similar response.

Within the last month, Byakuya, if he had the time, began visiting the academy during Hisana's lunch hour. One night, she had timidly asked him to come, to which he replied that he 'would try'. Since then, he made a valiant attempt each day to try to make it, apologizing at some point later in the day if he was unable to.

Laughter was commonplace; smiles, even if just slight ones in Byakuya's case, were plentiful; and similarities were abundant. There seemed to be nothing that could stop their simple relationship from growing into a strong one. Except, of course, the fact that she was a commoner... and he was nobility.

But, at times like now, when he was with her, Byakuya didn't seem to care if he was breaking the rules of the clan to be there.

"I believe it's your turn to share a secret, Kuchiki-sama."

"I thought that was only at night, Hisana-san." Byakuya raised an eyebrow, as the two of the sat down under a plum tree.

"It usually is, but we didn't get to it last night, remember? And I went first the night before. So it's only fair you make it up now." Hisana began unwrapping her lunch carefully.

Byakuya nodded and also began unwrapping his lunch. The clan elders decided to pester him about marriage as he was about to leave again. He didn't understand the reason they were pressuring him so much, and while half of him wanted to tell Hisana of his troubles, the other half felt it to be his burden to bear.

Hisana frowned, watching him as he unwrapped the meal slowly and went to open the box.

Byakuya suddenly spoke up. "I have a mission in the morning. I don't know how long it'll be until I can return to Soul Society."

"Oh...I see." _Is that what was bothering him?_

"That's not my secret, but I felt you should know." Hisana nodded, but still noticed the same look in his eyes. _Apparently not._

"So... let's see..." Byakuya lifted out a rice ball slowly, but then put it down. "Ah, I have one. It's not a secret... but... more a confession. I've been thinking."

"Really? I think often as well, Kuchiki-sama." Hisana laughed and opened her box up as well.

Byakuya smiled inwardly. "You didn't let me finish, Hisana-san." He looked around and picked up a fallen plum blossom. "I've been thinking that you would look..."

He leaned towards her and placed it in the wisps of the hair above her left ear, then moved back to look at her.

"...quite beautiful with a flower in your hair."

Hisana blushed a shade of pink that practically matched the blossom in her hair.

"Now..." Byakuya lifted the rice ball back up and took a small bite before putting it back down. "I believe it's YOUR turn, Hisana-san."

"Um..." Hisana looked down at her lunch, still blushing. "Hm... I need to give a confession as well then..." She lifted up a rice ball and also took a small bite. "Let's see..."

"Okay! Got it!" She gently put down her bitten-into rice ball. "I enjoy it when you smile. And I mean REALLY smile..."

"I smile often enough..." Byakuya cut in, raising his eyebrow.

"No... I mean... not those... the ones where you smile in your eyes too. I've only seen it twice. And... well... I would like it if I could see it more often, Kuchiki-sama."

"Only twice...?" Byakuya put his hand up to his mouth, covering the smile that was creeping its way forth.

Hisana leaned forward and put a hand around his wrist, and pushed his hand down. "Your eyes, Kuchiki-sama. Your eyes gave it away." With that, Hisana leaned back and continued to eat her lunch quietly.

Byakuya picked up his rice ball slowly and then looked at Hisana. "I'm going to owe you two more secrets," he said, breaking their momentary silence.

"Tomorrow night is only one secret, Kuchiki-sama." She took another bite.

"I have to leave to make preparations tonight, Hisana-san. I won't see you until I get back." Byakuya took a bite of the rice ball.

"Oh... I see..." Hisana frowned. "Will you come visit once you've returned?"

Byakuya nodded. "As long as it's not too late..." At that moment, the bell to tell students lunch hour was going to finish soon rang. Byakuya took the last bite of his rice ball and closed the box that used to be full of food.

"Did you enjoy it?" Hisana began closing her box as well and looked up to see Byakuya nod. Standing up, the two of them slowly began heading back towards the building in silence.

"So I guess I'll see you tomorrow night then..." Hisana looked up at Byakuya as they arrived at the building entrance.

Byakuya nodded. "Tomorrow night. If not... first thing in the morning the next day." Hisana looked down at the ground.

_Tell him you'll miss him... say something... do something..._ "See you soon then, Hisana-san." Byakuya turned and began to leave. _No! Why won't my body move...? Hug him! Do anything!_

Hisana shot her hand out and grabbed his, making him turn to face her once more. She was still looking at the ground. "Good bye, Kuchiki-sama."

Byakuya smiled and moved his free hand to her chin to lift her face up to look at his. The courtyard suddenly went silent. "No, not good bye, Hisana-san."

He gave the hand he was holding a soft squeeze. "I'll see you soon."

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**The next chapter is already planned out in my crazy little head, all I have to do is type it out. It'll be up tomorrow around this time, if not earlier. I promise.**

**A/N & A TINY Edit:** After reading Mr. Cereal's review, I realized that the academy **wouldn't** allow a Byakuya fan club. I had intended it to be a secret 'exclusive' club of sorts, but I guess I forgot to mention that. So I changed that. Thank you, Mr. Cereal. :D

**  
**


	8. Chapter Seven

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Mr. Cereal: Welcome back. :D As far as the fan club goes, and I should have mentioned (I editted it in the previous chapter), it's a top-secret 'exclusive' club. The instructors and whatnot know nothing about it. Just a group of silly girls who are all close friends and they all find him to be attractive and want his money, basically. And Kenpachi's situation with the sparring will be touched on in THIS chapter.

thelovablechelsea: LOOK AN UPDATE. I'm actually slacking off on school work for this story. Only 10 days left so whatever. Anyways. As far as Byakuya's confession of undying love... All in good time. ;D

Thank you everyone for your lovely reviews!

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER SEVEN

Try as she might, Hisana couldn't concentrate on her studies at all. Byakuya was supposed to return home that night, and all the news from the communications team so far had been good. A couple injuries, but nothing major. At least, that's what she had gathered from the chatting in the hallways.

Lunch hour arrived and she went off to collect her food. After politely turning down Matsumoto's offer to sit together, she started to head into the courtyard. The usual glares were replaced with smirks as she started to head toward the plum blossom tree.

A girl stepped forward. "You're not good enough for him, you know. Look, he didn't even show up today." It was the leader of the 'exclusive' Byakuya fan club.

Frowning, Hisana ignored her. She never understood how it could be a fan club if it was 'exclusive' to only the friends of the leader. They were mean anyways, and they liked him for all the wrong reasons. "I'm sure he'll never come back," the girl continued. "He was just playing with your emotions."

She had grown used to ignoring those types of remarks, and with some help from Matsumoto, the taunting had died down a little. It was the same taunting every time Byakuya couldn't make it. And every time, he would return the next day.

She sat alone and ate her lunch, ignoring the constant staring from the others inhabiting the courtyard. The rest of the day wasn't any different; glares, staring, snickering and a couple of shoves here and there. When the final bell had rang, Hisana couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief as she stepped out of the academy grounds.

Looking off into the distance, she noticed a group of death gods approaching. Yachiru was at the front of them, she noticed, and she was running ahead of the others shouting something that was difficult to understand from such a distance. Hisana stopped by a nearby tree and waited for the group to pass in an attempt to hear what was going on.

"I don't understand it! First I get forced into teaching those brat kids, then I get forced onto this easy mission, and then he steals all my thunder and gets a promotion! I wouldn't have signed up for all that if I knew I would get nothing in the end!" Kenpachi, who was walking in the group, was scowling at the person next to him.

Yachiru, who had climbed the academy walls to sit and wait for her friends, jumped off the wall onto Kenpachi's shoulders. "You didn't sign up, Ken-chan! I signed you up so you could come with me!"

She jumped off and began walking backwards, facing the person next to Kenpachi. "Toshiro-san, why did Byakuya-san steal Ken-chan's thunder?"

_Byakuya...? He's home then..._ Hisana frowned.

"Kenpachi doesn't have any thunder to begin with, Yachiru," Hitsugaya replied. _Did he go on the mission with Byakuya as well? _"Byakuya's promotion was well deserved. You saw what happened... If Kenpachi would have just shut up about how bored he was and let us concentrate, Byakuya wouldn't have had to do what he did."

"But anyways... he's Lieutenant Kuchiki now, you should get used to calling him that."

Yachiru nodded. "Do you think he's done reporting to the Commander General? We should have a party for him! I'll bake a cake!"

Hisana watched them walk off. _A party, huh?_ She turned and started to head back to her house. _He'd have more fun at the party than he would have with me... I'll just... wait until tonight, then.  
_

Byakuya, who had just returned back to his manor from reporting to his superiors, was greeted by a bowing servant. "Byakuya-sama... The elders wish to speak with you."

"I wanted to speak with them as well; it saves me time if they're all gathered already." Byakuya took off his death god uniform to reveal a heavily bandaged torso, causing the servant's jaw to drop. Byakuya ignored his reaction and put on the plain white robe he had been wearing when he first met Hisana. "They're waiting for me then?"

The servant nodded slowly and bowed as Byakuya began to head towards the elders' conference room. "Stay there until I'm done."

A few hours later, Byakuya opened the door walked out of the room slowly, then slammed the door behind him and began walking towards the servant, who bowed respectfully. Byakuya removed his white robe and handed it to the servant. "That needs to be washed."

The servant looked it over slowly and noticed a blood stain, then looked up with wide eyes to see a pale Byakuya with the bandages on his left side in the same condition as the robe. Byakuya put his previous attire back on and left the manor without another word.

Flashstepping his way towards the area he usually met up with Hisana, he stopped at the corner where they first crashed into each other and leaned against the wall to catch his breath. Cursing under his breath he wiped the sweat off his forehead and tried to stand up straight. _I refuse to let her see me like this._

Taking a couple of steps forward, he regained his balance and walked slowly towards Hisana's house, staying close to the wall at all times.

After what seemed like an eternity, he arrived at Hisana's house. He found her sitting on the steps in front of the door, looking down at the floor. She looked up at him, then looked back down at the ground.

Byakuya took slow steps towards her and stood in front of her. "Hisana-san. I... I'm sorry I wasn't able to come sooner. Have you been waiting long?"

Hisana shook her head. "Welcome home, Kuchiki-sama." She moved over slightly and patted the spot next to her. She had convinced herself not to be upset with him; that it was alright that he spent time celebrating his promotion. "I trust the mission went well."

Byakuya nodded and sat down next to her slowly. "Hisana-san..." _This is going to be difficult..._

"Hm?" She still hadn't looked at him.

"Nevermind. It's nothing." Byakuya stood up slowly and turned to face Hisana, flinching slightly.

"... did you enjoy your party then?" She looked up at him, failing to notice the paleness of his face.

"What party? I hate parties; I thought I told you that."

Hisana frowned, speaking quietly. "... I can't believe you can come here and lie to me..."

"I didn't attend any party, Hisana-san..."

"Where were you then? If you weren't at the party thrown in your honor, why didn't you come sooner...? You promised you would!" She stood up.

"I have my reasons. It's none of your concern." Byakuya turned away from her.

"Why can't you just tell me the truth?!" She felt her eyes begin to burn.

"I already said it's none of your concern. If you knew your place, you would leave it at that." Byakuya replied coldly. _I'm sorry, Hisana..._

"... fine then." Hisana walked up to her door and opened it, stepping inside. "Good bye, Lieutenant." Sliding the door shut behind her with a slam, she fell to her knees.

And for the first time in two months, Hisana felt tears roll down her cheeks.

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OH NO! TROUBLE IN PARADISE. D: Don't hate me! T-T! I'll post the next chapter tomorrow after school. I haven't written it yet, but it's all sorted out in my little brain.  
**


	9. Chapter Eight

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Juud: Sorry it took so long! D:! My internet decided to declare war on me. ;-;

thelovablechelsea: Bad feeling huh:( You may be right. Anyways, here ya go.

WiNdGoDdEsS688: Sorry for the cliffhanger. D: But here's an update for ya!

Thanks, everyone, for your reviews

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Welcome home, Byakuya-sama." The same old servant that usually greeted him stood in the doorway, bowing. The sun had just started to shine through the windows. "Would you like some breakfast...?"

Byakuya didn't respond. Continuing on down the hall, he entered his bedroom and closed the door behind him. The servant sighed.

A younger girl, also a servant in the estate, approached the older one slowly. "How many days Byakuya-sama been like this?"

The older servant shook his head with a frown. "It'll be a week tomorrow. In any case... it's time for me to change his bandages..." The servant went towards Byakuya's bedroom and knocked on the door before entering.

Byakuya was sitting in the chair closest to the window, watching the sun rise in silence. "Byakuya-sama, would you like me to change your bandages now?"

Byakuya didn't move. The servant slowly approached him and picked up the fresh bandages he had laid out on the bed before Byakuya had returned. "It will get infected if we don't change them, master." Still, no response.

The servant frowned then put the bandages back down. "Summon me when you wish for them to be changed, sir." Byakuya looked over at the servant slowly, then stood up and slowly removed his robe.

Picking up the fresh bandages again, the servant approached him again. "Did you enjoy your walk, Byakuya-sama?"

No response again. Slowly removing the bandages, the servant frowned. The wound didn't seem to be healing at all. "Byakuya-sama... why don't you get this healed by the fourth division?"

Byakuya turned his gaze to look out the window again, still not responding. The servant began putting on the fresh bandages carefully. "You really should eat something, Byakuya-sama."

Byakuya looked at the servant as he finished putting on the bandages. "Kanaye," he said finally, "Do you remember the time I got badly injured as a child?"

Kanaye pondered the idea for a moment, then nodded. "The late mistress gave you a sweet cake to try to make you forget about the pain."

"Do you remember what my father said to her when she asked him to get the fourth division?"

"No, Byakuya-sama. I don't believe I was present for that."

"He said that she was rewarding my foolishness." Byakuya sat back down on the chair. " 'Getting the fourth division to heal is too good for such foolish and rash behavior. If he's going to heal, he'll do it on his own. I care not if he dies.' Back then... I didn't understand."

"This promotion is the sweet cake for getting injured during the mission." Byakuya looked out at the window. "I wasn't concentrating. Then, when the enemy went to attack Unohana, I didn't draw Senbonzakura to block it, but simply jumped in the way." Byakuya looked back at Kanaye. "I'm not going because I got injured thinking about someone instead of the mission."

"The commoner girl?" Kanaye began folding the old bandages. "She made you happy, Byakuya-sama. All of us at the estate noticed it."

Byakuya didn't answer, but looked out the window again. Kanaye began to leave. "Byakuya-sama... I know about the marriage."

Kanaye stepped out of the room, and turned to look at Byakuya again. "Your father didn't marry the woman he was given by the elders."

Byakuya turned his gaze to Kanaye. "While she was still of noble blood, he married your mother out of love. I felt you should know." He bowed and slowly closed the door, leaving Byakuya alone.

Byakuya looked out the window for a moment, then stood up slowly, put on his white off-duty robe, and left the room. Walking down the hall and towards the exit of the manor, he saw the servant who opens and closes the manor entrance start to put down his breakfast to go open the door for him.

Byakuya held his hand up to stop the servant. "Finish your food." Opening the doors himself, he stepped outside.

As he began to leave the estate, he thought back on the meeting with the elders.

---

"You think your promotion is an honorable one?" The head elder was glaring down at him.

"Getting injured and getting a reward for it isn't honorable at all. Whether you were saving your friend or not, you were careless."

"It's the commoner girl, she's destroying you. Did you think we wouldn't find out? Foolish boy."

He didn't remember exactly what he had said in response, but Byakuya did remember his injury stinging from being reopened after he had raised his voice.

Another elder spoke up. "You're the representative of the clan, Byakuya. In spending time with that stupid girl, you're ruining our name."

The head elder stood up."Don't let us find out that you're still spending time with her. Leader of the clan or not, you're forbidden from seeing her. You're dismissed."

At this point, Byakuya turned to leave. He opened the door slowly and stepped out.

"And Byakuya. Your marriage is at the end of next month. It's all been arranged with the girl's family. They're honored you want them to be part of the Kuchiki clan."

Byakuya slammed the door behind him.

_---_

Before he knew it, Byakuya had arrived at his destination. He looked around to see many academy students walking around the courtyards and the halls. _Change of classes... Now... If I remember correctly... _

He made his way towards the area of the school in which the demon magic courses were taught. Scanning the outdoor classes through the windows, he frowned.

He came up to a classroom at the end of the hall and knocked on the door.

The door opened slowly. "Ah, Kuchiki Byakuya! What a pleasant surprise! We were just talking about you! Come in, come in." The instructor moved out of the way to allow him into the room.

"Everyone, look here. Lieutenant Kuchiki's the one I told you about who doesn't need to use incantations for demon magic. A rare gift to have." She smiled at him. "Congratulations on everything."

Byakuya didn't respond. He looked around the classroom at each of the students one by one.

The girl in the front row, an obvious member of the Byakuya Fan Club, pouted. "Kuchiki-sama! Is it true you're getting married?"

Byakuya shook his head slowly, still not paying very much attention. "Cancelled," he stated simply.

The instructor looked confused. "And why's that?"

"Doesn't matter." His eyes finally landed on her.

The girl in the front row grinned. "Does that mean you're avail--"

"Instructor," Byakuya cut the girl off, staring intently at the dark-haired girl seated near the back. "May I borrow one of your students?"

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**I'm really bad at doing this to you guys. ;-; Sorry. Next chapter: Byakuya swallows his pride and begs for forgiveness! ... in his own... Byakuya-ish way... It'll be up tomorrow, hopefully.**


	10. Chapter Nine

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

animequeen100: XD I'll see what I'll have him do. But yes. GO BYAKUYA!

thelovablechelsea: Updating! Sorry I didn't get this up sooner. School meetings and whatnot. And fear not! He'll sort things out and everyone will be happy!

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER NINE

"Borrow..." The instructor blinked then looked at the class. "One of them?"

"Yes. One of them. For a few minutes."

"Do you want me to pick one, or ask for a volunteer?"

Byakuya shook his head slowly. "The one in the back."

Hisana, who had been staring down at her desk the whole time, looked up to meet Byakuya's eyes.

The instructor's jaw dropped. "Who? Hisana?" She lowered her voice to prevent Hisana from hearing. "She's been a wreck this last week. Wouldn't be any use to someone like you."

"I can assure you, instructor. She's perfect."

"Very well then... Hisana. Please come up here." As Hisana slowly stood up and began walking over, the instructor looked at Byakuya. "We're covering new material today. She can't fall behind."

Byakuya nodded. Hisana walked up to Byakuya and the instructor, but kept her eyes to the ground.

The instructor frowned. "Hisana. Show your respect."

Hisana nodded slowly, then looked up at Byakuya and went to bow, but stopped when Byakuya shook his head.

"I'll bring her back shortly."

Byakuya took a step back and nodded for Hisana to leave first, then walked out behind her, shutting the door.

The instructor watched them leave, perplexed. "What could THAT be about?"

Outside the room, Hisana was facing Byakuya, looking at the ground again.

"You've lost weight, Hisana-san." Hisana nodded slowly, and looked up at him, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"I owe you an apology. And an explanation."

"My marriage hasn't been cancelled," he started, to which Hisana's jaw dropped slightly. "At least... not yet."

"I had been expecting an arranged marriage for months. The elders had said they would arrange one if I didn't find a bride quickly, they just never gave me a date..."

"The day I returned from the mission, they had told me I was never to speak with you again, and that my wedding had been arranged. I didn't know what to do, so I thought if I made you hate me... things would be easier." Hisana looked down at the floor again.

"A servant in my house since my childhood told me this morning that everyone in the estate noticed my joy when I had spent time with you, and the sorrow I had now that I didn't. I tried denying in my mind that hurting you was the reason for my sadness, because then the marriage wouldn't happen."

"But then... something sank deep into my stomach each time I remembered the moment you slammed your door. I couldn't put my finger on it; I was sad... lost... angry... I couldn't sleep; I never ate. I thought it might be the arranged marriage, but then I figured that if my parents were happy with an arranged marriage, I would eventually be."

"As it turns out... my parents weren't arranged. My father went against the elders and married my mother." Byakuya moved his hand to Hisana's chin and lifted her face to look up at him. Moving his other hand to wipe her tears away, he forced a smile. "I'm sorry, Hisana. I was too blinded by upholding the clan rules and honor that I failed to realize what everyone else around me knew all along."

"Even if it means breaking all the rules and disgracing the Kuchiki name, I never want t--" At this point, Hisana stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, crying into his robes.

Byakuya slowly moved his arms up to embrace her, bringing her closer to him as she turned her head to the side. "Please don't cry, Hisana-san..."

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**Sorry that it's kinda short.** **I have to go to a driving lesson thing now, but I'll be back soon enough. Sorry, also, that I couldn't get this up yesterday, I had a billion things to do at school and I didn't get home until practically midnight. I'll post chapter 10 today as well, to make it up to all of ya. :D  
**


	11. Chapter Ten

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Thelovablechelsea: Yeah. XD Stupid instructor. And who said anything about TELLING the elders?

Conterra-san: Hehe, I'll let you imagination wander as to what he wanted to say. But it was something along those lines.

Juud, animequeen100, WiNdGoDdEsS68, and Byakuxhisa4eva: Thank you for your reviews. :D I'm glad to see you're all still reading.

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TEN

"I... should get back to class then." She didn't know how long she had been standing in his arms, but she felt comfortable being there. There was no awkward tension... it was nice.

She felt Byakuya nod and slowly pulled back, taking his hands once they had parted. "Will I see you at lunch today, then?"

Byakuya shook his head. "I have things I have to take care of."

Hisana let go of one of his hands and put her hand on the door. "After classes then?"

Byakuya nodded as Hisana slowly slid the classroom door open. "After classes," he replied as she stepped into the room. Their hands still hadn't parted and, as a result, the class had gone silent.

The instructor, who had been purposely standing closer to the door to eavesdrop, had her jaw wide open.

Hisana looked around to see the class staring, then looked back at Byakuya and blushed, reluctantly letting go of his hand. "I'll see you soon."

Byakuya nodded then bowed slightly at the instructor. "I apologize for interrupting your class."

"Oh... no... anytime..." The instructor watched Hisana walk back to her seat, then looked at Byakuya and back at Hisana.

As Byakuya began to leave, Hisana called out, "Oh! Kuchiki-sama! You owe me seven now."

"Seven...?" Byakuya popped his head back in. "I thought it would be more... felt longer. Seven it is, then."

With that, Byakuya left the Academy.

After class, Hisana was practically pounced on by Matsumoto. "Hisana-chaaan! I saw Kuchiki Byakuya walk towards your classroom befoooore! Explain!"

Hisana blushed slightly. "Nothing to explain."

"What's with the smile then? Hmmm? Is it good news?"

"I suppose you could say it's good news, Rangiku-chan."

"Worthy-of-sake good news?" Matsumoto began to get excited, but then frowned when Hisana shook her head. "Is he gonna start coming back for lunch, then?"

At this, however, Hisana nodded slowly. "Just not today. Has things to do."

Matsumoto nodded thoughtfully. "Ahhh... of course. He must've come to his senses and went to go dump that other girl for you."

Hisana blushed even redder. "What makes you think Kuchiki-sama would do something like that?"

"... you're joking, right? The man never smiles unless he's with you. Which, by the way, he has a very nice smile."

Hisana nodded. "It's nicest up close." A slight pause. "And when it's really real."

Matsumoto raised an eyebrow as they entered their next class together. "If I didn't know any better... I'd say you have it bad."

"Huh...? Have what bad?" Hisana frowned. "I don't have anything 'bad'..."

Hisana was never able to forced out what 'it' was, not even at the end of the day. But at that point, trying to find out was insignificant in her mind. Byakuya was waiting for her, and she certainly wasn't ready to make him wait for her to get answers out of her friend.

Running out of the Academy, she found Byakuya standing near a tree. His outfit was different, she noticed. _That must be the outfit the girls described as his 'official nobleman business' outfit._ It looked simple enough, she observed from the distance, death god uniform underneath a white overcoat held shut at the chest by... was that gold? _Oh my goodness... that's gold. Must've been important things he had to take care of..._

Finally walking up to him, she smiled slightly. "Get everything done then, Kuchiki-sama?" Byakuya nodded.

"It was just one thing, but I knew it would take a long time to take care of. Would you mind if I brought you back to the manor?"

"Me? I'm not dressed to go to a manor!" Hisana looked down at her school uniform.

"I'm sure we can find something for you there."

"But I..."

"Please?"

Hisana bit her lower lip. "Oh... alright. Fine then."

---

_He has servants to open doors and gates... _Hisana stepped inside the manor and looked around, attempting to take in the splendor of it all. Everything was spotless, organized, and the room seemed to have a glow about it.

There were portraits on the wall of all the previous clan leaders, at least... that's who she assumed they were. _No... not previous... Byakuya's up there... or is that... his father?_ He certainly looked a lot like Byakuya, but he seemed... colder. Her eyes wandered across the wall, and then around the room as she stood there with Byakuya, who was discussing something with an elderly servant.

"Is he home?! Get him in here!" A voice came from a room down the hall. _Oh my... that doesn't sound good._

Byakuya smirked. "It begins." He walked down the hall to the left, passed the room where the voice came from and into a room at the end of the hall.

The elderly servant looked at Hisana. "Hisana-san, please come with me." He lead her down the hall to the right and into the first room they came to. He looked her over briefly then walked over to a closet and slid the doors open.

"Let's see here... Ah, this should be the one Byakuya-sama was talking about." Pulling out a box, the servant lifted the lid off and revealed a dark pink kimono with lighter pink cherry blossoms embroidered onto it.

He gently handed her the kimono. "I hope it fits you, Hisana-san," the servant said as he walked out of the room and shut the door behind him.

Hisana slowly glanced down at the brilliant fabric she held in her hands. _This is... _She ran her hand across the flower pattern. ..._amazing..._

---

After a lot of gentle struggling, Hisana finally managed to get the kimono on. Looking herself over the mirror, her jaw dropped. _ It fits almost perfectly..._ She slowly slid the door open and popped her head out, looking around. Walking back towards the entrance, she saw Byakuya coming from down the hallway. He changed his outfit again, she realized, to a set of plain white robes and a light green overcoat, and, for one reason or another, his soul slayer.

They both arrived at the entrance at the same time, Hisana blushing at the look of admiration from Byakuya.

"Um... Byakuya-sama." The servant from before, Kanaye, approached him slowly. "The elders..."

"Kuchiki Byakuya!" The head elder opened the door of the room and stepped out, followed by the rest of the elders.

Byakuya turned to face them. "Yes?"

"WHAT is the meaning of this?"

----------  
**Another cliffhanger! GASP! I'll post the next chapter tomorrow :D R&R, please and thanks.**


	12. Chapter Eleven

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

thelovablechelsea: Eee! So sorry for spelling it wrong. D: Did I do it right this time? And of course I'm going to reply to you each time! You were one of my first reviewers! As far as Matsumoto goes... I assure you, she'll be doing her job quite well soon enough.

animequeen100: Nownow, everyone knows violence never solved anything. ;D

Blue Brightness: Aw, I'm glad you like it. :D

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER ELEVEN

"Meaning of...?" Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

"Don't play stupid with me, boy!" The elders took steady steps towards Byakuya.

Kanaye frowned and looked at Byakuya. "You shouldn't let them talk to you like that, Byakuya-sama."

Byakuya shook his head. "It's alright, Kanaye."

"What do you think you're doing?! Overriding our decisions! Who gave you the right?!" The elders were standing in a group in front of Byakuya.

"You need to lower your voice," Byakuya replied calmly.

"Excuse me?!" The head elder was turning red in the face.

"I won't answer to a screaming old fool." This, of course, made the elder even more angry.

"You FOOLISH child! What makes you think you can speak to me that way?!"

"The same thing that makes you think you can speak to me the way you are." Byakuya's voice seemed bored, almost lazy. "Now, what are you making such a big deal about?"

"You know perfectly well! The marriage! Who told you you can cancel it?!"

"No one did. I made the decision on my own."

"You had no right to do that! You father would have never DARED to--"

"Oh, but he did." Byakuya responded simply, cutting the elder off. "Regardless... She wasn't a suitable bride. I don't know when you got the impression that I would marry someone like her."

"... and a commoner is suitable?" The elder raised an eyebrow, finally noticing and smirking at Hisana, who lowered her gaze to the floor.

"Well, with your ridiculous standards, the only thing suitable is a spoiled woman who doesn't know how to do anything but laugh, cry, and sleep. And quite frankly... I'd end up insane."

Kanaye tried to stifle a laugh. "His father said the exact same thing."

"But his father married a noble! This WENCH is a commoner. She's not even worthy to step foot in this house!" The elder pointed a finger at Hisana, glaring.

Byakuya narrowed his eyes and took a step towards the elders, looking at the head elder coldly. "Conference room. Now."

Walking down the hall, he forced the door open and stepped aside, allowing the elders who had followed him to enter before him.

"Kanaye." Byakuya looked at his servant. "Make Hisana comfortable."

"Yes, Byakuya-sama." Kanaye bowed as Byakuya stepped into the room, slamming the door shut.

"Will Kuchiki-sama be alright?" Hisana looked at Kanaye sadly. "I don't want to ruin anything..."

"So... you're Hisana-san..." Kanaye smiled warmly at her. "Byakuya-sama cares for you, that's why he fights them. In his perspective... not being with you would be much worse."

"How do you know...?" Hisana looked back down the hallway where Byakuya had just walked down.

"Because Byakuya-sama would walk away from confrontations he has decided to be foolish... But his actions have proven your importance to him."

Shouting could be heard from inside the room and Hisana frowned. "I don't want him to get in trouble."

"Oh, the situation isn't like that at all, Hisana-san." Kanaye looked at Hisana. "Kuchiki Byakuya never gets in trouble."

_... what's that supposed to mean?_

Kanaye began walking towards the room. "Come, come." Hisana quickly caught up to Kanaye and stopped outside the room with him. She could make out what was being said from here, but only occasionally.

The head elder was speaking, she observed, but his words weren't clear until he began to raise his voice. "She's a dirty, foul, leeching commoner! Do you think she actually CARES for you?! We're the clan of Kuchiki! We're the first noble house of Soul Society, we MUST uphold the laws to set the example."

A calmer elder spoke up. "Byakuya. If we don't obey the laws... who will obey them?"

Byakuya hadn't responded. At this point, Kanaye stepped forward and slid the door open just enough to be able to see what was happening, but still go unnoticed. The sight made Kanaye frown, and once he stepped back, Hisana gasped slightly.

Byakuya was standing in the center of the room, all the elders seated in their seats one level above him. He had his hand on his side and was using his soul slayer, which he had stabbed into the ground, as a support.

"Look what she's done to you, Byakuya." The head elder stood up and glared down at Byakuya. "You got injured on your mission thinking about that stupid girl. It's foolish to think you could be happy with her. You're both too different."

Byakuya looked up at them and forced himself to stand up straight. "Don't you understand? I'm not here to get your PERMISSION to be with her."

"Really now? And what makes you think you don't need it?"

"I don't THINK I don't need it." Byakuya pulled his soul slayer out of the ground. "I KNOW I don't."

"Insolent boy. The elders must agree with anything you do."

"Don't give yourselves too much power. You don't think I know?" Byakuya smirked.

The elder raised his eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

"The clan leader's position is passed down from father to eldest son." Byakuya slowly put his soul slayer away.

"Yes, yes. We knew this." The head elder sat down.

"The elders... are advisors. Clan leaders seek their input in matters to difficult to sort out alone, am I right?"

"What are you getting at?" another elder asked.

"Over the years, you've given yourselves more and more power and strength in clan decisions... when, in actuality, no matter how much you opposed me... my word is the final one."

The head elder stood up slowly. "Where did you learn of this?"

"Learn of it?" Byakuya turned his back towards the elders and began to leave. "I've always known. I just wanted to see how far you'd go before realizing how much danger you were putting yourself in."

"The things you've said and done recently..." Byakuya looked over his shoulder as he opened the door. "... are punishable by death."

Stepping out and closing the door behind him, he looked at Kanaye then at Hisana. "Oh, good... You heard all that?" Hisana nodded slowly, still shocked. "That saves me a lot of explaining..."

"Byakuya-sama..." Kanaye took Byakuya's arm. "Your wound."

Byakuya looked down to see his white robe stained with blood. "Hm... that's problematic. One moment, Hisana-san." He pulled his arm away from Kanaye and began walking towards his bedroom.

Kanaye followed and a few minutes later Byakuya returned in a fresh white robe. Kanaye was behind him. "At least it didn't stain the overcoat this time, Byakuya-sama. It's getting better."

Byakuya nodded and forced a smile when they arrived at Hisana, who had walked back to the foyer. "Now... where were we before we were so rudely interrupted?" Hisana's gaze lingered on the portraits on the wall briefly before she turned her gaze to Byakuya.

"Oh, I know, Byakuya-sama. You were going to show her the estate." Kanaye smiled and walked over to the door to slide it open.

Byakuya nodded and gestured for Hisana to go first. "After you, Hisana-san." After blushing a deep red, Hisana walked out, followed by Byakuya.

As Kanaye closed the door behind them, he walked over to the window to watch the two walk down a stone pathway.

The young female servant who had been concerned for their master's health approached slowly and watched along with him. "I see Byakuya-sama's feeling better."

Kanaye nodded slowly. "Indeed, he is... We have that young lady to thank for that."

----------  
**Look! No cliffhanger this time:D I'll post another chapter tomorrow, now that my work load is starting to lighten. But for now... time to do homework and study for final exams. XD  
**


	13. Chapter Twelve

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

thelovablechelsea: Walk around the estate and hidden love equals tons of possibilities. :3...

Juud: Best chapter ever? Oh my. o.o I hope this one doesn't let you down.

Zammy: Aww, thanks. :3 And welcome back! I missed ya. :D

Conterra-san: Yeah, I would be fine with old geezers calling me a wench if I had a hot guy defending me too. But she is indeed offended. :(

kuchiki hitsugaya: Fear not, I don't intend on stopping any time soon.

animequeen100: No, he doesn't know about Rukia yet. But he will soon.

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWELVE

Hisana walked down the stone path with Byakuya in silence. She had made several attempts to open her mouth to speak, all of which ended up in a miserable failure.

It hurt to know that she wasn't accepted by his clan. As mean as they were, in the end... they were still from the same family, weren't they? Hisana couldn't help but frown.

"I apologize, Hisana-san." Finally, Byakuya broke the silence as he continued walking straight, his gaze never leaving the path ahead of him. "The members of my house were rude to you."

"Hm...? Oh... no... don't worry about it, Kuchiki-sama..." Hisana forced a smile, hoping it was convincing.

Hisana frowned again and looked down at the floor again. _He got hurt thinking of me..._ "How's ... your injury?"

"It's nothing major, Hisana-san. Just a product of carelessness." Byakuya looked down at her from the corner of his eye.

"... it looked pretty major, Kuchiki-sama..." Hisana still hadn't looked up. "Those elders don't like me at all, do they?"

"Don't take it too personally, Hisana-san. They can barely tolerate me, and I'm the head of their clan."

"How do you propose I get them to stop hating me?" Hisana looked up at Byakuya sadly. "The last thing I want is to be hated by your family."

"They don't hate you, Hisana-san." Byakuya sighed. "They just... feel that you're looking to abuse the power the Kuchiki name has. And then there's that whole 'dishonorable' nonsense... and 'improper' is another word they enjoy using."

"I'm sorry I don't meet their standards, Kuchiki-sama." Hisana frowned and looked down at her feet again. "And I'm sorry you were injured during your mission."

Byakuya frowned. "The injury wasn't your fault, first of all... Second of all, their standards and opinions don't matter."

The path suddenly opened up into a large circle that was surrounded by flowering bushes. Hisana looked up. The stone-clearing forked off into two different directions, she noticed, and looked around at the all the flowers with wide eyes.

Byakuya smiled softly at her expression and walked over to the bush that seemed to have the best developed flowers. Leaning down to get a closer look, he inspected the flowers slowly, glancing over briefly to see Hisana walking over to him.

Hisana watched him look at the flowers with a smile, stepping closer as he gently went to pick a flower off the bush.

Before she could stop herself, she had leaned forward and pressed her lips against his cheek before quickly pulling back. Blushing bright red, she put her hands up to her cheeks to cover the obvious change in her facial color.

Byakuya looked at Hisana from the corner of his eye. "And what was that for?" Standing up straight, he turned to face her with the same soft smile.

"W-well..." Hisana stammered, still in shock at her action herself. Why did she do that...?

"Well... you ... stuck up for me... and stuff... and I would've done it before, but Kanaye-or-whatever-his-name-is was there and besides you're far too tall and even if I tried to reach on my tip-toes I couldn't and well... you were leaning down so I figured it would be a good time to do it but then I didn't really want to because I didn't know how you'd react and then my body kinda went off on its own and well... if you don't want me to ever do it again, I'll understand and you can just tell me and I'm so sor--"

Byakuya put his pointer finger gently against her lips and shook his head, slowly putting the flower in her hair as he had done in the academy courtyard a week earlier.

"So... how about those seven I owe you, Hisana-san?"

When Hisana finally recovered to a normal color, she followed Byakuya, who began heading down the path to the right. "You go first then, Kuchiki-sama."

"Alright... let's see. It's a request. I would like it if you would start calling me something that's a little more familiar."

"Um... as in... first name...?" Hisana blushed a bit. _Could I ever get used to that?_ "How about... Byakuya-sama? Is that good?"

Byakuya shook his head with a smile. "It's a start, I suppose..."

"Okay... A request..." Hisana scrunched her brow in thought. "Could I... lean against your arm while we walk, Kuchi-- I mean... Byakuya-sama?"

Byakuya thought about it for a moment and then nodded slowly. Hisana smiled and wrapped an arms around his, leaning her head against his arm. "Do I have to go first this time, Ku-- Byakuya-sama?"

Byakuya nodded again. "Those were the rules you came up with."

"Hm... alright then... Mine's a confession. I'm terrified of spiders."

"Terrified of spiders, huh?" Byakuya forced down a chuckle by clearing his throat. "As a child, I used to be scared of the dark."

"USED to be? That doesn't count!" Hisana frowned, choosing to ignore his obvious amusement with her fear. "That should count as cheating..."

"You never said it has to be something in the present, Hisana-san." Byakuya smirked. "Now, let's see here..." They came up to a large tree. "Would you like to sit, Hisana-san?" Hisana contemplated it for a moment before nodding.

As the two of them sat down next to each other under the tree, Hisana smiled at Byakuya. "It's still your turn, Byakuya-sama."

"Ah, that's right. I was hoping you would have forgotten if I changed the subject... let's see..." Byakuya looked up at the sky and then back at Hisana. "I haven't slept in over a week."

"Well..." She scooted closer to him and leaned her head against his shoulder. "I haven't slept in... six days."

"Your turn, Hisana-san." Byakuya felt his eyelids begin to grow heavy as the sun was beginning to set.

"I enjoy watching sunsets almost as much as our late night walks." Hisana rubbed her eyes sleepily.

"Hm..." Byakuya slowly rested his head against hers with a smile. "I enjoy late night walks almost as much as spending time with you."

Hisana smiled and slowly let her eyes drift shut with a yawn. "Your turn... Byakuya-sama..."

Byakuya let out a yawn disguised as a deep sigh. "Secretly... I'm glad the academy isn't in session tomorrow..." He gave in and let his eyelids slowly slide shut.

Hisana nodded slowly. "Secretly... I think... I'm falling...in..." She yawned again, the last word muffled by her yawn, and fell asleep.

----------  
**And so it begins. :D New chapter up tomorrow with the last two remaining confession-things and more Byakuya/Hisana goodness. :3 ****R&R please and thank ya. **


	14. Chapter Thirteen

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

WiNdGoDdEsS688: Hehe, well... writing this fic is the only thing keeping me sane DURING finals.

Blue Brightness: :D I'm flattered that you like my writing so much. Means a lot to me, actually. :DD...

Conterra-san: Babbling Hisana will be back soon enough. ;D I have plenty of uses for her... :3...

thelovablechelsea: Oof, I'm still scared of the dark. D: And no secrets this time, I changed my mind. ;-;

_A/N: I know I promised more secrets, but I had a concert and had a random moment of a different idea, so I kinda strung it together and stuff! Next chapter, however... Byakuya will make up all the secrets he owes Hisana. (Or confessions, rather. Mehehehe.)_

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

"Psst... Byakuya-sama." A whisper from nearby, yet still far away.

"Be quiet, Kanaye! You'll wake them." Closer now, another whisper.

"He shouldn't be sleeping out here. Byakuya-sama. Wake up." Kanaye whispered a bit louder, waking Byakuya, who had decided to keep his eyes closed, from his sleep.

"I think they look cute. We should leave 'em alone..." The second whisperer went to leave.

"Well, it's certainly too late now..." Byakuya's eyes opened slowly and he looked down at the deeply sleeping Hisana. Try as he might, the smile he made a valiant effort to suppress managed to sneak its way out. She had curled closer to him sometime after he had fallen asleep, and was now resting her hand on his chest, breathing deeply.

What exactly had her last secret been in response to his? Byakuya frowned. He remembered vaguely... But... Had she even finished her sentence? They were both too exhausted to think straight, he remembered, and failed in his attempt to hold back a yawn as the two servants watched him in silence.

"What exactly compelled you to come wake me?" Byakuya looked back at them sleepily, absentmindedly running his fingers through Hisana's hair gently.

"It was all Kanaye's idea!" The young female servant was quick to defend herself. Byakuya never paid much attention to her anyways, but he still scared her; as nice as he had been recently, he wasn't always that way.

Kanaye sighed. "WE were worried that you and Hisana-san would catch a cold, Byakuya-sama."

Byakuya looked around. "The weather is nice enough. You couldn't just get a blanket and leave us alone?" He raised an eyebrow, obviously not too happy with his servants' decisions.

The young servant pouted. "We don't want you to get sick, Byakuya-sama. You've been bad enough recently with that injury!" She had said that a lot louder than she intended, and bit her lower lip when Hisana stirred a bit in her sleep.

Kanaye eyed Byakuya carefully. "Look what you've done, you foolish girl..."

Byakuya rolled his eyes. "I'm tired. And comfortable where I am. And I was sleeping PERFECTLY fine for the FIRST time in A WEEK. And your idiocy is bound to wake her."

The servants didn't move, obviously still not catching on.

"... Dismissed." Byakuya leaned back against the tree slowly, trying to not wake Hisana.

The servants still remained, staring at him dumbfounded for a moment before turning to leave. "We'll... bring a blanket then, Byakuya-sama..." Kanaye said, taken aback by Byakuya's obvious feelings for the girl.

Byakuya shook his head slowly, his head leaning against Hisana's once more and his eyes shut. "Don't. I don't want to be woken up again..."

"As you wish, Byakuya-sama," Kanaye sighed and pulled on the female servant's arm, taking her back into the manor.

Byakuya drifted into sleep once more, feeling Hisana snuggle closer to him. Shortly after, she opened her eyes and looked around, not realizing that her hand was on Byakuya's chest, or that he was resting his head against hers until a second later.

She looked up slowly, blushing, to see him asleep and reached up to move some hair away from his face. She smiled warmly at him and reached over to take his hand in hers. He looked peaceful when he was asleep, she noticed with a smile and went back to her original position, weaving her fingers with his.

When had they fallen asleep...? Did she really confess her feelings to him? Hisana blushed a deeper red, hoping he was asleep before she had started her confession. _It's foolish to think he loves me anyways..._ Then again... his reaction to her kiss on his cheek earlier wasn't a bad one at all... what if...?

Hisana looked out to see the last manor light go out and then looked up at the sky. _I wonder what time it is..._

Normally, she realized, she would have been in a panic if she had fallen asleep on another person's shoulders, male or female. _Male, of course, would cause me to apologize to the point of tears. _But there was something about being here with HIM that made everything different...

Hisana closed her eyes slowly. She would have to wait until morning. See how things unfolded from here. If he changes or not...

_But what if he does change and things become awkward...?_

Hisana opened her eyes again and looked up briefly to see him still peacefully asleep before closing her eyes once more.

_I'll worry about that in the morning... _

----------**  
Anyways. It's late. I have finals (haven't studied. XD) and I had a concert to perform in. ... so yeah... Gonna get studying. Sorry it's kinda short. I'll have a longer one tomorrow, I hope. With secrets and confessions and Byakuya and Hisana spending more time together! Yay! But yeah. This chapter kinda stinks. Apologies. Tomorrow's will be better. I won't be as tired and blahblah. Good night, everyone!  
**


	15. Chapter Fourteen

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

WiNdGoDdEsS688: I hope you did well on your bio final:D I only have chemistry left. D:

Conterra-san: I would never make things awkward! Things will only move forward in their relationship from now on, I promise. Well, for the most part. :X...

thelovablechelsea: Well, I'm glad you liked the last chapter. :3 Sorry I kinda vanished for a while.

_A/N: Sorry I didn't update for a while... I've been having some personal issues, and finals and musical performances certainly didn't help. But I'm back now._

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Hisana awoke the next morning to find herself in the same place she had been the previous time she woke up. She sat up slowly and stretched, assuming Byakuya, who had not moved, was still asleep.

"Good morning, Hisana-san."

Obviously, she was wrong. Turning around quickly, she blushed to see Byakuya very much awake with a small curve of his lips that could be interpreted to be a half-smile. "G-good morning, Byakuya-sama." She began patting down and combing her hair with her fingers frantically, knowing that it was normally a mess when she woke up in the morning, coaxing out a full-out smile from the man sitting next to her.

"Your hair is fine, Hisana-san. I trust you slept well?"

Hisana nodded slowly. "Except... one time... I think I heard talking. Did someone come and find us asleep?" She tried, and failed, to hide a blush.

Byakuya frowned, but nodded. "Servants. Concerned for our health."

"Kanaye-san, I assume." Hisana smiled and straightened out her, or rather the Kuchiki clan's, kimono. "He cares a lot for you, Byakuya-sama."

"Yes, well... he's certainly been here longer than I. He's grown accustomed to my so-called 'spoiled' personality."

"Spoiled, huh?" Hisana, who had resumed combing her fingers through her hair, nodded thoughtfully. "Hm... yes, you certainly do come off as the spoiled type." _Well... nothing changed, it seems._

Byakuya, who was still leaning against the tree, sat up straight and slowly went to stand. "Breakfast should be ready." He looked down at Hisana. "Are you hungry, Hisana-san?"

Hisana nodded slowly, and took Byakuya's hand when he offered it. The path back to the manor was much shorter than what Hisana remembered, her eyes wandering the path as they walked back in silence.

Once inside, Hisana felt her first mild hunger grow exponentially. The smell of the food was incredible, and it probably tasted just as great. She felt, and heard, her stomach growl, hoping Byakuya's hearing wasn't keen enough to notice. "After we eat, Hisana-san... I wish to show you something."

Before Hisana could respond, they arrived in the dining room. Hisana noticed all the elders sitting at the table with a few other very serious-looking individuals. The seat at the head of the table was empty, and once Byakuya was noticed, everyone stood in respect, leaving Hisana shocked.

A dark-haired woman sitting close to the table head smiled at Byakuya. "Good morning, cousin. I trust you had a good night's rest?"

Byakuya nodded slowly and walked towards his seat, motioning for the servant to pull out a chair for Hisana to his right. Hisana followed timidly, sitting down next to the woman and smiling politely at all the members of the clan who looked her way.

The same woman spoke up. "Still not speaking, Byakuya?"

Byakuya sat down in silence.

"I see we have a guest... is this the young lady the elders were telling me about?"

Byakuya raised an eyebrow at the head elder, still, for some reason, choosing not to speak.

"They said nothing out of the ordinary..."

Byakuya waved his hand idly in the air, dismissing the elders' importance. "Usual elder rambles, I take it? Pay no mind to their comments. Hisana-san, this is my cousin Arisu."

"Oh, so YOU'RE the one who has captivated my beloved cousin's heart and made him go on a week-long hunger strike when his marriage was announced... And I see that you've managed to make him speak again! Well done." Arisu grinned at Byakuya. "I had no idea you had such wonderful taste in women."

Hisana blushed. "Pleased to meet you, Arisu-san."

"Byakuya and I grew up together. I know EVERYTHING about him. His weaknesses, the looks he gives when he's interested in a girl, his eating habits when he's unhappy..." Arisu smirked. "And recently, Hisana-san... He's been giving lots of signs of having his eyes set on a woman."

"I barely spent any time with you when we were children." Byakuya signaled for Kanaye to make the kitchen servants come out and serve the food. "You were always far too immature."

"Do you know how long we had to wait for him to stop moping around and order for the meals to go on without him within the last week? The last three days, he wouldn't even SPEAK; I had to get him to NOD to the servants to start the meals." Arisu leaned towards Hisana and whispered, "You see...? He didn't deny having his eyes on a woman."

Hisana blushed and looked down at her empty plate, then looked up at Byakuya suddenly. "Oh! Kuchiki-sama...Thank you for letting me wear this kimono. It's amazing."

Byakuya raised his eyebrow at Hisana, but chose to let her get away with her choice in calling him what she had. He shook his head and smirked at his cousin. "It was nothing. I can assure you, Arisu wouldn't fit in them and I certainly have no use for them."

Arisu narrowed her eyes. "Well it's certainly too bad you have no use for them, Byakuya, because you would look wonderful in a woman's kimono with that MARVELOUS female hair of yours."

Byakuya, who was apparently a master of countering his cousin's insults, didn't seem to react. "Of course YOU would consider my hair to be marvelous, considering the state your head of hair is in."

"And what's THAT supposed to mean?"

"Exactly what it sounded like." Hisana swore she saw smoke beginning to seep out of Arisu's ears and cleared her throat to stifle a laugh while the servants set down all the plates of food.

After breakfast, the elders and clan members began leaving the table one by one, each requesting permission to leave the table. Hisana watched as Arisu, the last remaining person, begin to leave the table.

When Arisu finally left the room, Byakuya looked at Hisana with a faint smile. "You'll have to forgive them for being so boring. Half of them are too old to think, the other half is too childish to uphold a conversation."

"So where do you fit in?"

"Hm..." Byakuya considered this for a moment, then stood up out of his chair slowly. "You know... I'm not entirely sure..."

Hisana shook her head with a sigh and stood up as well. "So what exactly did you want to show me?"

"Ah yes... that's right. I'll give you my last two confessions on the way, then. And you don't have to give any in return this time."

Hisana nodded slowly. "A-alright then, Byakuya-sama."

---

They were walking the same path as the previous day, it seemed. As they came to small flower-enclosed clearing, Hisana stopped short and frowned.

"What is it, Hisana-san?"

"The flower fell out of my hair..." Hisana looked at Byakuya sadly, almost as if offering an apology.

Byakuya walked over to the same bush and carefully inspected the flowers, picking one gently and going back to Hisana. "No kiss on the cheek this time?"

Hisana blushed as he put the flower in her hair again. "Sorry about that, Byakuya-sama..."

Byakuya shook his head and took the left path this time, smiling at Hisana when she followed. "I was a little disappointed, that's all," he confessed, then looked back at the path ahead.

"Disappointed?" If at all possible, Hisana felt her face go even redder.

Byakuya nodded slowly. "There it is. Up ahead."

Hisana, who had resorted back to her usual looking at the floor, looked up and felt her jaw drop. _The estate has it's own RIVER?_

She looked down the path to see it lead to a bridge over the river. Next to the path near the bridge, a cherry blossom tree stood, and when the wind blew strong enough, Hisana saw the flower petals fall like snow onto the bridge.

They walked onto the bridge slowly and stopped midway across it. Byakuya looked over at Hisana, who was in shock, and then turned to face the river and put his hands on the railing of the bridge.

Hisana cautiously did the same, and looked up at Byakuya, who was staring out at the river intently.

"I come here to think," he said suddenly, offering up his second 'confession' of the day. "It's peaceful here. Standing here clears my mind almost as well as walking at night."

"It's certainly lovely here," Hisana responded with a nod, and leaned forward to look down at the water that was practically covered in a sheet of flower petals.

"The kimono is yours, by the way," Byakuya began and noticed Hisana straighten up to look at him and begin to protest. "But you have to explain why you called me Kuchiki-sama again at breakfast."

"I..." Hisana faltered and looked back at the river briefly before looking back up at him. "I didn't want to get you in trouble, Byakuya-sama."

"Get in trouble?" Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

"Well... yes." Hisana frowned. "I don't want you to have to stand up to the elders again... not on my behalf."

"Clan leaders stand up to the elders all the time, Hisana-san. It's practically tradition for me to disagree by now..."

"Well... It's just that... I guess... I was just... worried, I guess."

"Worried? About me?" Byakuya felt a smile creep across his lips.

Hisana blushed a deep red once more, but nodded. "Y-yes."

"And why's that?" Byakuya turned to look at her.

Hisana turned herself to face him and looked down at the floor. "It's just... Well... you got injured and then you were fighting to defend me against the elders and you hurt yourself again, and I just don't want you to get hurt because of me again and..." She felt Byakuya's hand move to her chin and lift her face up gently, his eyes seemingly searching her face. "I know you said it wasn't my fault... but still... I feel like you got hurt becau--" Hisana's eyes went wide.

At some point during her babbling, Byakuya had leaned in closer and cut her off by pressing his lips gently against hers, his hand still by her chin. She felt her eyes flutter shut on their own as she moved her arms to clutch his haori gently.

After what felt to be a moment too soon, Byakuya pulled back slowly and watched Hisana slowly open her eyes. She blushed again and he couldn't help but smile.

"W-what was...?" Hisana started, but was cut off by Byakuya's pointer finger.

"You were rambling again, Hisana-san."

----------**  
Another chapter up tomorrow and every day after this week. (I hope.) I missed everyone. ;-; Sorry I was gone for so long.**


	16. Chapter Fifteen

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline and original characters, however, do belong to me. **

Conterra-san: Hehe, glad you liked it. :D... There's definitely more where that came from, I assure you. Just not... right now. Soon though! And cousin character is an interesting one, as you'll soon come to see... ;x...

WiNdGoDdEsS688: I hope you have fun on your vacation, though! There will be lots of updates for you to catch up on when you get back. :D Thanks for the sugar. :DD

Juud: You like Arisu, huh? Haha, yeah, she's gonna be an interesting one. :x I have her personality and whatnot all planned carefully in my mind. Mehehehe.

thelovablechelsea: I'm happy to be back; I missed everyoneee. Aaaand! I was just about to get to Byakuya calling Hisana 'Hisana', gosh. XD And I have to admit, I'm growing attached to my friendly Byakuya myself. But he's only nice to her, unfortunately (or is it fortunately...?). Otherwise, his usual noble cold-ness reigns supreme. D:

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Hisana spent the rest of the day at the Kuchiki manor. That evening, the two of them, during their usual nightly game, made a promise to call each other by less formal names. Byakuya would call her 'Hisana', and Hisana would call him 'Byakuya-sama'. Try as he might, Byakuya wasn't able to make her budge from that to simply 'Byakuya', and instead insisted she spent the night at the manor. After much resistance from Hisana and smooth persuasion from Byakuya, Hisana finally agreed and was shown her room.

The guest room she was given to stay at was larger than her entire house, she felt, and the futon she got to sleep in was more comfortable than she could imagine. Although...

Byakuya's shoulder was definitely more comfortable, she decided.

She awoke in the morning to the smell of breakfast and looked over at the door to see her school uniform hanging there. Sitting up suddenly, she looked around. She was still...

A knock at the door. "Hisana-san. It's time for breakfast."

"A-alright, Kanaye-san. I'll be right out." She got out of the bed slowly, almost reluctantly, and slipped on the long-sleeved haori left by her bed. Looking at herself in the mirror, she ruffled her hair quickly and patted it down, combed it through with her fingers and readjusted the sash of the nightgown she was given, then paused and ran her fingers across the embroidered designs. _Everything here is so fancy... even the night clothes..._

She looked down at the flower he had placed on the table before she went to bed and picked it up gently before opening the bedroom door to leave. _I can't believe I have classes today..._

She turned the corner and looked around. ... o_r how big this place is... _She walked ahead and turned another corner and blinked in confusion. _... or the fact that I'm lost..._

_It seemed so simple when Byakuya-sama took me to the dining room..._ She turned another corner and entered a familiar hallway. She looked to her left, saw a closed door, then looked to her right and saw a hallway. As she stepped towards the hallway, the door next to her slid open.

"Ah, Hisana-san! I see you're awake." It was Kanaye. "Are you trying to find the dining room?"

Hisana nodded slowly and glanced down at the bandages in Kanaye's hand. "This way then, Hisana-san."

Following Kanaye down the hallway, she glanced back to see the door still shut and frowned. "Is Kuchiki-sama still injured, Kanaye-san?"

Kanaye nodded. "It's getting better now, Hisana-san. No need to worry. And I believe Byakuya-sama requested you to call him something friendlier, did he not?"

Hisana blushed but nodded.

"You needn't worry about me telling the elders. I dislike most of them." Turning into the dining room, he let Hisana enter first. "Byakuya-sama will be here shortly. He asked me to seat you where you were previously."

Arisu glanced over to see Hisana enter and waved at her from her chair with a semi-friendly smile. When Kanaye left after Hisana sat down next to her, she raised an eyebrow. "Still here, I see? Goodness you played your cards right."

"What do you mean...?" Hisana frowned. Arisu's tone was different today... almost... resentful.

"Oh, please. You don't think you and Byakuya were 'meant to be', do you? You happened to be at the right place at the right time, that's all, Hisana-san."

"What are you saying, Arisu-san?"

"What does it sound like I'm saying? You're certainly not deserving of my cousin." Arisu crossed her arms and the room suddenly went silent.

"I think you should let deciding if she deserves me or not to me, Arisu." Byakuya was standing by Arisu's seat, glaring down at her. "Wouldn't you agree?"

Slowly walking away from his cousin's chair and sitting in his own chair, he forced a smile at Hisana as the table broke out into quiet conversation. "Good morning, Hisana. I trust you had a good night's rest?"

Hisana nodded slowly. "Thank you for allowing me to spend the night, Byakuya-sama."

Again, silence; a couple murmurs... Had she seriously just...? It wasn't possible.

Byakuya shook his head and slowly lifted the flower that Hisana had absentmindedly put down on the table, reaching over to put it in her hair gently. "Stay as long as you'd like, Hisana."

An elder cleared his throat to interrupt, causing Byakuya's glance to wander coldly towards him.

Arisu flinched slightly at the look in his eyes. "There's the Byakuya we all know and love... We were worried you were lost forever."

Byakuya narrowed his eyes slightly and then signaled the servants with the food forward. As the food was set on each plate and everyone began to eat, Byakuya and Hisana ate in silence as everyone else conversed.

"Have you found a wife yet, then, Byakuya?" An elder looked over at Byakuya with a cloaked smirk.

Byakuya felt his muscle tense and he stopped eating his food. Hisana looked at Byakuya with worry in her eyes. _Not this again..._

"You know..." Byakuya lowered his chopsticks slowly. "It's a definite possibility."

Hisana, along with Arisu and several other people at the table, dropped their chopsticks suddenly and looked at Byakuya in shock.

----------  
**So Arisu is totally a mean person now, or at least... for now. But yeah. :D... Byakuya's apparently 'possibly' found his wife, and Hisana has no idea what's going on! GASP! Next update up tomorrow. :3**


	17. Chapter Sixteen

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline and original characters, however, do belong to me. **

Juud: Aw, come on. Don't hate on the meanie cousin; she's not all bad, I promise. XD

thelovablechelsea: Yes, Kanaye's a nice old man. :D I'll go into more detail about Kanaye soon.

Fala-Li: Does this mean I've transformed you into a Byakuya fan? If so, hurray! If not... well... I'm glad you like my fic. :D

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

Byakuya's ice-cold stare remained on the elder as the entire room went silent. No one moved, and eyes were focused on the clan leader.

"Who are you going to marry, Byakuya?" Arisu raised an eyebrow at Hisana with an 'I-told-you-so' type of smirk.

"That..." He looked at Arisu with the same cold gaze, causing her to look away. "Is none of your concern." Byakuya stood up slowly and went to leave the dining room, the inhabitants of the Kuchiki manor in state of shock as they followed him with their eyes.

"You have to tell us eventually, Byakuya."

"All in good time." He turned to face everyone, looking specifically at Hisana, the ice of his eyes seeming to melt. "Come, Hisana. You'll be late to academy."

Hisana nodded slowly and stood up, walking towards Byakuya and Kanaye, who was standing next to Byakuya at the entrance of the dining room. Bowing to Byakuya, she began to set off towards her room, or what she felt was the direction to her room, but stopped when Byakuya put a hand on her arm. "Kanaye, show her to the room, and then to the estate gates. I'll wait there."

Kanaye nodded and bowed. "Understood, Byakuya-sama."

Arisu, along with the rest of the clan members in the dining hall, had returned to quiet and tense chatter, most of them trying not to make their interest in Byakuya and Hisana's conversation too obvious.

Hisana looked up at Byakuya, whose hand was still resting on her arm. "Are you going to go with me to the academy, then...?" He responded with a slight nod.

Moving his hand to gently adjust the flower in Hisana's hair, he leaned in and gave her a light kiss on the cheek, which, of course, caused Hisana's face to return to its oh-so-common bright red and led to the instant silence of the dining hall.

Turning away from Hisana, he headed down the hall towards his own room, satisfied with the looks on the elders' faces he caught a glimpse of before he left.

---

"Kanaye-san."

Hisana and the old servant were walking slowly down the pathway towards the estate gates.

"Yes, Hisana-san?"

"Who... do you think Byakuya-sama meant...?" Hisana trailed off, trying not to frown.

"Meant by what?" Byakuya could be seen at the gates in his death god uniform.

"When he said he's found a wife..." Hisana looked down at the ground.

"Well, I know for certain who he meant, Hisana-san." Kanaye smiled at her warmly. "I'm just not sure it's my place to reveal such personal information. Byakuya-sama will tell you if he wishes to."

Hisana nodded slowly as they arrived at the estate gates, looking up at Byakuya and forcing a smile before turning to Kanaye and bowing. "Thank you for walking me here, Kanaye-san."

"Don't mention it, Hisana-san. Come back soon; we enjoy having you at the manor." Kanaye bowed to Byakuya and turned to leave, slowly heading back towards the manor.

"Hisana..." Byakuya began walking in the direction of the academy, Hisana walking next to him. "How many more classes do you have left before academy lets out for the year?"

"Um..." Pondering this for a moment, she counted and then recounted the days remaining. "One week not counting today, Byakuya-sama. Why?"

"No, I was just wondering."

They walked in silence for a while, Hisana attempting to gather her thoughts.

"Byakuya-sama, I have a question," she said finally, looking up at him. She waited for him to look at her before continuing. "What's the big deal with finding a wife?"

"Well..." Byakuya began, turning to look at the street ahead of them. "I'm expected to produce an heir of some sort, for one."

"But you're so young! You won't need an heir anytime soon..."

"Yes, but... death gods die often enough. That, and in the event that I get injured, sick, or die... my wife takes over my duties as head of the clan. And raises the child."

"Does she have to be a death god?"

"Usually... no. My mother did graduate from the academy, but she never went on missions... Father felt it too risky to have the two of them out on missions. This way, if my father died, my mother would still be there to teach me how to lead the clan."

"Oh, I see..." Hisana watched Byakuya's facial expression, which had remained blank until he spoke about his mother. There was a trace of sadness in his eyes, she noticed, and frowned.

"Is there any reason you wanted to know?"

"No, I was... just wondering." Hisana smiled up at him as they arrived at the academy gates. "I'll see you at lunch today, then?"

Byakuya nodded and forced a smile, "Of course." With that, Hisana gave Byakuya a quick hug, much to his surprise and ran off towards the building, turning to wave goodbye to him before entering the academy to start the last week of classes.

**----------  
So today was the last day of classes for me, so updates will be longer and a lot less blah once I get to start sleeping in and stuff. XD So tiredddd. Anyways. Poor Hisana still doesn't understand that SHE's the one he wants to marry. Silly girl. Sorry this one is short-ish. Next one'll be nice and long and yay-ful, I think.  
**


	18. Chapter Seventeen

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline and original characters, however, do belong to me. **

Juud: Patience. :D She'll be a nice person eventually. (Maybe.) But I wouldn't dare ruin Kanaye. He's far too old to change now.

thelovablechelsea: That's alright. I forgive you for not reviewing earlier because of maintenance you couldn't help. :P

Byakuxhisa4eva: This is actually not even close to being done, so there will be lots and lots more now that summer vacation is starting. I'm still a little swamped with a couple of exams during the next two weeks because of 'finals weeks' but after that, I'll be free to write plenty. :)

Fala-Li: :3 Oh goodie. I'll work extra hard to fully convert you into a Byakuya fan! Mehehehe.

Conterra-san: Regarding Arisu, I have something planned for her, so her random transformation isn't completely random and silly and whatnot.

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

Hisana had grown used to the constant looks and words whispered about her in the hallways. After all, it wasn't every day a nobleman came up to your classroom and asked for you, was it? Even more gossip-worthy, it wasn't every day that you held his hand before he left and spent the day off at his manor, either.

She was certain the words her classmates spoke about her weren't friendly in nature, and more bad was spoken about her than the noble Kuchiki Byakuya, but quite honestly... it didn't really bother her.

Especially when free time came around and she saw the man who made butterflies dance in her stomach and caused her heart to do backflips.

When she walked out of the classroom that day, she realized that Byakuya was talking to someone and he looked, compared to his usual emotionless demeanor, rather annoyed. Hisana smiled inwardly. He had never looked that way when he talked to her, but even if he had... she did find it, in some strange way, adorable.

She approached him from behind and listened to the conversation briefly.

"No." Byakuya insisted, a hint of annoyance in his voice.

"Please, Kuchiki-sama? Just ONE hug. If not for the whole club, just for me. I'm the leader!"

Byakuya ignored the girl with an impatient sigh, bringing a hand up to massage his temples.

"Okay... if not... can WE hug YOU?"

"No." Byakuya's patience was running thin, Hisana felt, and reached out to grab his arm before he got angry enough to hurt someone.

Byakuya gently but swiftly pulled his arm away, looking down to make sure none of those pesky fan girls had snuck up on him. Upon seeing Hisana, Byakuya's serious expression immediately melted away into a relieved smile.

"Sorry I'm late, Byakuya-sama. Finals and the lot... I'm sure you know the drill."

The club leader's face changed dramatically from a pout to murder-intended glare. She narrowed her eyes at Hisana, who stepped up to stand next to Byakuya. "EXCUSE me. You interrupted me, you little filth."

Byakuya looked at the girl coldly. "You see... it's talk like that that destroys your chances of getting a hug." Walking away with Hisana, they headed towards their usual spot.

Hisana looked up at Byakuya. "I don't have classes for the rest of the day. Took my exam for today. I can go home."

"Do you wish to?"

Hisana nodded slowly. "I need to get something from my house..."

"Have you learned to flash step yet?" Byakuya surveyed the tall wall that blocked them into the courtyard.

"Very little. Basic steps... jumps and whatnot..." Hisana watched him with curiousity. "... why?"

"Oh, good... We're jumping this wall."

Hisana's eyes went wide. "B-but! I have to sign out! I'll get in trouble otherwise a-and... I really..."

Byakuya forced out a reassuring smile and took her hand. "I'll help you out, of course. Besides... That fan club girl is watching."

The 'fan club girl' was indeed watching them, along with the entire club, from the other side of the courtyard with a collective frown. Here they were, trying to get him to even give them a smile, and she was holding hands with him... what did she have that they didn't? How could she be allowed to touch his expensive nobility clothing and they couldn't...?

Just then, the club leader jumped up from her seat. "...There's NO way Kuchiki Byakuya just kidnapped that stupid Hisana girl."

---

Upon arriving back at her house, Hisana stepped inside after asking Byakuya to wait for her outside. Glancing at the calendar, she frowned. _It's... been a year since I abandoned her..._

Hisana slowly walked up to the closet and pulled out a box, lifting out a small light pink blanket. She put the box away and stood, walking back outside, hugging the blanket tightly. Byakuya raised an eyebrow, and went to ask what the blanket was for, but stopped himself when he saw Hisana's face.

"Do...Could you... I mean... do you mind... coming somewhere with me...?"

Byakuya nodded slowly, unsure, for the first time in a while, of what to say. He had never seen her this way... she seemed so fragile to the point where one wrong word would shatter her into millions of pieces.

He walked with her slowly towards the exit of Seireitei and into Rukongai, the air between them full of tension and depression compacted into an emotion that made it difficult to breathe. Upon stepping into Inuzuri, Byakuya looked around and felt very out of place with all the people staring at him strangely. Suddenly, he understood how Hisana felt in the manor with all the looks she would get from the inhabitants of the house.

The difference was, these people looked at him in fearful resent, and his family looked at her as if she was an insect that needed to be crushed.

They slowly approached a nearby alleyway and Hisana stopped, still hugging the blanket close. She bowed her head down and took a deep staggering breath, failing in her attempt to hold back tears.

Byakuya watched her silently for a moment before walking over and standing next to her. "Hisana..."

"I abandoned her here, Byakuya-sama." She knelt down on the ground and place her hand on the ground.

"Abandoned who here?"

"My ... baby sister." Hisana ended up struggling to not choke on her words. She brought the blanket up to her face and attempted to muffle her now uncontrollable sobs.

"What are you talking about...?" He watched Hisana slowly lower the blanket again and hug it close.

"I left her here in my selfish weakness to die... I couldn't take care of the two of us, so I left her here in the hopes that someone would find her and take care of her. After a couple of hours... I came back out of regret and... she was gone..."

"Someone might have taken her in, Hisana." Byakuya reached out his hand and rested it on her shoulder in an attempt to comfort her.

"No! You don't know this place... people would sooner kill a baby to silence its crying... They would never consider adding an additional hassle to their lives... I came back every day and I never found even a trace of her... Except..." She put the blanket down on her lap and ran her hand across it sadly, tears flowing out of her eyes and landing on the pink fabric.

"Hisana..." Byakuya knelt down next to her and pulled her close to him, Hisana turning and sobbing into his robes. "I'm... sure she's fine."

Hisana didn't respond, but wrapped her arms around his torso, burrowing her face into his chest.

He reached up and ran his fingers through her hair. "I'll ... help you look for her, Hisana."

Hisana looked up at him, her eyes full of a newfound tear-filled hope. "You... will...?"

Byakuya nodded and forced a smile to reassure her. He moved his hand to wipe her tears away. "We'll find her."

**----------**

**So now Hisana has offered up the ULTIMATE confession. When will Byakuya cave in and tell her about his feelings? No one knows! But it will be soon. ALSO!**

**ATTENTION PLEEEEASE!: Alrighty, everyone. animequeen100 has asked a very good question. I was originally intending to follow the manga and eventually have Hisana die. Does everyone still want me to go through with that or do you want me to go into an AU and make her live and have them have a family and yadda-yadda? I could also just do this fic as I was originally planning and then do a branch off story with Hisana LIVING instead of dying. Actually. I think I might do that. But lemme know what you think. End of ramble, sorry. D: **


	19. Chapter Eighteen

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline and original characters, however, do belong to me. **

H'okay people, sorry for not updating yesterday, I was waiting for more people to tell me what they wanted to happen and I haven't had time to breathe since school let out for some stupid reason.

Anyways. I've made my decision. I know a lot of you wanted me to keep Hisana alive, but I'm going to go with what I originally planned and follow the manga for THIS fic. Once I'm done with this one, I'll start a new AU fic starting from a random point in this story. (Probably from when Byakuya learns of Hisana's illness.) And she won't die in that one. Sorry if this makes any of you upset with me, but I already had things planned out in my insane little head and I don't wanna just get rid of those ideas. :x

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

A week had passed.

A week, and with each passing day, the change in Hisana became more and more obvious.

Especially to Byakuya.

She no longer smiled as often; she avoided conversations when she could. She skipped meals, even when she stayed at the Kuchiki manor. Even at the end of the academy year, she didn't celebrate with her classmates that they were off for three straight months.

And it seemed that only Byakuya had noticed. Which, in turn, led to Kanaye noticing Byakuya's concern.

That morning, Hisana hadn't even come out of the guest room. When her door was knocked on by Kanaye, she didn't respond. And when Kanaye reported back to Byakuya for what seemed to be the millionth time to the people seated at the breakfast table, Byakuya let out a deep sigh with a frown.

The hungry clan members shifted impatiently in their seats. Of course they wouldn't understand... Hisana was grieving and only Byakuya understood why. It was because he understood that he took the verbal abuse from his family and waited for her as long as possible before starting a meal.

This meal, of course, was no different.

Arisu, who had stopped talking to Byakuya since he had 'embarrassed' her in front of Hisana, rolled her eyes. Now was a good time to start talking, she decided. She was hungry, and he was certainly being annoying.

"If you don't order the food, I'm going to go to that girl's room and drag her out," she stated, looking at her outstretched hand, admiring her newly polished fingernails.

Byakuya didn't respond. He had, as immature as it might seem, also resorted to ignoring his cousin.

"Oh come on. I thought I was the only one immature enough to give the silent treatment. I didn't even offend you!"

"Yes, but you offended her." Byakuya looked up at her, his eyes full of a poorly suppressed worry.

"... My goodness." Arisu looked at her cousin sadly. "I didn't think you were this serious about the girl."

"Her name is Hisana. I would appreciate it if you would start calling her that."

"... you're really serious about her?" Arisu's jaw dropped slightly.

"In all the years you have known me, Arisu, when have I not been serious?" He beckoned Kanaye forward. "Try again."

Kanaye nodded but stopped when Arisu held up her hand. "I'll handle it, Kanaye. Girl talk." She smiled slightly at Byakuya and stood up from the table, heading out before her cousin could object.

---

Arisu arrived at Hisana's door and knocked gently. "Hisana-san."

Inside the room, Hisana looked up at the door, slightly shocked at the voice she had heard. "Arisu-san?"

"May I ... come in?" Arisu bit her lower lip. She hadn't been the nicest person to Hisana these last few days; it was unlikely she'd be allowed in.

Hisana slowly walked over to the door, sliding it open and forcing a tired smile before stepping aside to allow Arisu in. "What brings you here?"

Arisu stepped in slowly, watching Hisana slowly push the door shut. "I... need to speak with you." Arisu slowly sat down on the bed and watched Hisana drag her feet and sit down next to her.

"About...?"

"How..." Arisu pursed her lips before continuing. "... do you feel... about... my cousin?"

Hisana, who was shocked but the suddenness of the question, looked down at her hands. "I... I care for him, I guess."

"Care for him?" Arisu frowned slightly. "Is that all?"

"It's not like I'd be allowed to feel much more. With the elders forcing these rules around and whatnot..." Hisana replied, her voice full of a deep sorrow that made the room seem darker. "Besides... I'm sure he feels nothing for me."

"... feels nothing?" Arisu furrowed her brow. "Look at me, Hisana-san."

Hisana slowly raised her gaze to Arisu with questioning eyes.

"I've known Byakuya all my life. I've always looked up to him for the ideal way to be a Kuchiki; I've always respected him..." Arisu smiled at Hisana. "I never knew how he could live without smiling or showing feelings, and then I realized one day that he had no reason for anything as foolish as emotions."

Hisana frowned. "You see? He couldn't feel anythi--"

"But then he met you," Arisu continued, taking Hisana's hands. "My cousin never smiled until he met you. He has this joy in his eyes when he speaks even just your name that I have never before witnessed."

"Why are you telling me this? You said yourself that I wasn't meant to be with him only last week." Hisana gently pulled her hands away. "I've realized myself I don't deserve someone as wonderful as he is..."

"I..." Arisu looked away from Hisana for a moment before looking back. "I said those things because... I worried for him. When it comes to feeling love, even a person with a heart of ice like his could get hurt..."

"Feeling... love?" Hisana's gaze slowly lowered down to her lap.

Arisu nodded and put her hand on Hisana's chin and lifted her face to look at her. "You and my cousin are perfect, Hisana-san. I see that now."

"You... really think so?"

Arisu nodded once more.

"What of the elders...? They certainly don't think I'm perfect for him."

Arisu smiled and stood up slowly. "Leave them to me." Walking to the door and sliding it open, she turned to look at Hisana. "Come to breakfast, then?"

Hisana nodded and forced a smile. "I'll be there soon."

"Oh and... Don't forget the flower." Arisu stepped out of the room and slowly slid the door shut behind her.

**----------**

**I'll see if can update tomorrow, but I'm supposed to be stupidly busy. I'll try my best, though. I would have gotten two chapters up today, but I had to go out to a graduation dinner for my cousin that took FOREVER.**


	20. Chapter Nineteen

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Before you get to reading...

**Let me clear something up**. I never said I was going to keep Hisana alive in this story and then "changed" my mind. I'm usually a woman of my word and when I say I'm going to do something, I stick to it. I did, however, say I was considering making a separate fic where she lives and I wanted everyone's opinions on that. If you want to go find a "better" fic and then come back when I write the one with Hisana living, by all means go ahead. But don't think I'm going to be nice and reply to your reviews at that point in time.

Thank you to those of you who were supportive of my decision, though. Means a lot to me. :) Now, without further babbling from meeee: Chapter 19!

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Arisu sat back down at the table almost as swiftly as she had left, smiling at the elders encouragingly.

"What did you say to her?" Byakuya frowned as the elders nodded in Arisu's direction.

She winked at Byakuya. "You can thank me later."

Hisana, who had finished getting dressed, slowly walked out of her room, closing the door behind her before heading towards the dining room she had finally managed to learn how to get to.

_Why did I distance myself so much recently...? It couldn't have been because I told him about Rukia... I felt more comfortable knowing he didn't disapprove of me..._

She turned a corner and looked down at the flower in her hand. It had managed to remain in one piece, and very much alive, thanks to Kanaye's advice to put it in a small bowl of water for hydration.

_It's just the two of us against all of the nobles in all of Soul Society... did that scare me?_

She turned yet another corner, mindlessly getting closer to the dining room.

_Byakuya-sama's the most powerful nobleman, though... that couldn't have been it... Was it because I realized he's too far out of my reach...? _

_After all... I'm just... an academy student. There's no way I could ever be good enough for him._

She suddenly remembered the time Byakuya had come to her classroom to apologize. Hisana smiled, remembering his words. _I can assure you, she's perfect..._

Finally arriving at the dining room, she stopped and took a deep breath before stepping into view. She saw Byakuya looking at Arisu with his usual cold expression. Arisu was smirking, obviously teasing him about something. As the people at the table noticed her entrance, the room began to grow silent.

She bowed deeply and looked up once more to see Byakuya's eyes transfixed on her, noticing the trace of joy that Arisu had mentioned. _ Is it really true that he never smiled before...?_

She walked towards her seat and sat down, smiling warmly at Byakuya. "Good morning, Byakuya-sama."

Byakuya smiled in return, obviously very much relieved. "Good morning, Hisana."

With the exception of the occasional requesting permission to be excused from the table, nothing was said throughout all of breakfast. The final elder to leave the table turned to look at Byakuya and Hisana, who were having the same conversation with their eyes they had been having all through the meal, and sighed.

"Byakuya. The elders wish an audience with you at your convenience." Simply nodding to acknowledge the elder's words, Byakuya continued to stare into Hisana's eyes with a faint trace of a smile.

"It's been over a week since I've been able to see your eyes shine this way..." Reaching over to put the flower she had brought in her hair, he didn't seem to notice when the table began to clear completely without checking with him first.

Not that he cared, really. It DID get annoying after a while. What was he supposed to do? Forbid them from leaving the table until he was done? Besides... he'd much rather be here with Hisana at the moment anyways, and not being bothered for such a silly thing was much appreciated.

"I missed your eyes almost as much as your voice, Hisana." Hisana blushed as his hand trailed down from running his fingers through her hair to gently cup her cheek.

Arisu stood in the doorway watching with a content smile as Kanaye came up to her. "Change of heart, I see, Arisu-san?"

"Look at him, Kanaye." She glanced at the old servant before looking back at her cousin. "Why can't the elders just..." she sighed deeply, "They annoy me. Too stubborn and old to realize that he's only bitter when he's without her."

Kanaye nodded with a smile. "He wants to marry her, you know."

"What? He told you?"

"No, but it's obvious in how he looks at her."

This time, it was Arisu's turn to nod. "I told Hisana-san that I'd handle the elders."

The servant looked at Arisu with a raised eyebrow. "It was certainly nice knowing you, Arisu-san."

She rolled her eyes and turned to leave. "I'll see what I can do to soften them up before Byakuya snaps out of his trance and goes to meet with the old fools' council."

"Best of luck, Arisu-san." Kanaye bowed and watched her leave before walking slowly up to Byakuya.

"Byakuya-sama." Kanaye bowed slightly, not expecting much of a response. "Summon me when you need me." He watched Byakuya nod slowly before bowing once more to leave.

Hisana felt her entire face go extremely warm. She had never received this type of attention before. It was... intimidating. And yet still nice. There was something different in his eyes that morning she realized, not able to put the correct word on it.

He seemed calmer, happier... his eyes full of a warmth she had never before seen. What was it, exactly? It almost as if... he was admiring her.

"Byakuya-sama... what about the elders?" Hisana moved her hands up to hold his and moved his hand away from her face. "Don't they wish to speak with you?"

"Does it matter?"

_Okay, that was certainly unexpected._ Moving her hand up and slowly tracing her finger along the side of his face, she smiled. "You really should go see what they want... I'll come with you."

Bringing his hand up and catching her hand before she pulled it away, Byakuya nodded and kissed her palm gently before standing up with a sigh. "These meetings... drive me crazy."

Hisana, whose face was a vibrant shade of red, smiled and stood as well, wrapping her arms around his. "Well, we should go to it quickly so you can get it out of the way."

---

Arisu stood in the conference room, facing the elders. "With all due respect, I don't think you understand how much that girl means to him."

An elder spoke up, sounding very angry. "I don't think YOU understand how big of a stain his foolishness is going to cause on our name. Do you think we want an heir with blood mixed with dirt such as her?"

"You haven't even given her a chance!" Arisu raised her voice for the first time in this entire meeting.

"We don't need to. Once a filthy commoner, always a filthy commoner. And when did your alliance change, Arisu? You were against her just this morning."

"I..." Arisu sighed and looked down at the floor before looking back at the speaking elder defiantly. "I didn't understand then. He LOVES her. She makes him happy! Makes him SMILE! How often do you see him SMILE?"

"He's being fooled, as are you. We're going to put an end to this foolishness once and for all."

"You can't stop him, you know."

"No, we can't stop his stupidity. But we can deny any rash actions he takes. We will not have a stain put upon the white name of Kuchiki, do you understand me?"

Arisu sighed. "You just can't be reasoned with... no wonder Byakuya is so cold with you..."

"We no longer have a reason to speak with him; tell him that. If he's going to give the same ridiculous argument as you, hearing it once is more than enough. I, for one, do not wish to hear his confession of love for her."

Arisu let out an exasperated sigh and nodded. "Yes, sir."

---

As soon as Byakuya and Hisana arrived at the conference room, Arisu opened the door and slammed it shut behind her. "They don't need you anymore."

Byakuya blinked in mild confusion. "And why not?"

"Because I talked to them for you. They're not exactly supportive and they're not giving any blessings, but they won't get in your way. We're going to have some bumps, but I'll help in smoothing those out."

Byakuya smiled, putting his free hand on Arisu's shoulder. "Thank you."

"Ah, don't mention it. What are bothersome younger cousins for?" Arisu smiled and looked at Hisana. "You're going to look so pretty."

Had she missed something? What were they talking about? "...pretty in what?"

"No, nothing. Well... I have things to get to." Arisu bowed deeply. "I'll see you later, Byakuya. And you too, Hisana. Have a nice day," she winked before smirking and adding, "alone."

As Arisu began to leave, she stopped halfway down the hall and looked at Byakuya. "Oh, and I better be the one to handle decorations, Byakuya."

Byakuya rolled his eyes, but nodded. "Of course, Arisu. I wouldn't have anyone else in charge."

Hisana frowned, feeling very left out. "Decorations for WHAT?"

"All in good time, Hisana." Byakuya looked down at her with a smile before pressing his lips briefly to hers. "All in good time."

----------**  
Another chapter up tomorrow, keep an eye out. I'm finally getting room to breathe and omaigawsh, when did 100 reviews happen?! Thank you all sooooososososo much. Love ya all! ****:D**


	21. Chapter Twenty

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Juud: Haha, yeah. Arisu's getting a little ahead of herself; it's part of her personality, as you'll soon see.

Zammy: Hm... a good name for the elders... old farts:D?

_A/N: Sorry this didn't get up yesterday, my internet got screwy. ;-; Thanks for all your lovely reviews, though. To make up for not posting this yesterday because of unforeseen circumstances, I added more to the original chapter twenty and now it's nice and long! Yay:D That, and I only just got in my connection back and whatnot. But anyways. Enough of me! ONWARDS!_

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWENTY

Arisu ran down the hallway to Byakuya's room and pounded on the door bright and early the next morning. "BYAKUYA! Open up! FAST! I need heeeelp!"

Byakuya, who had been awake for a decent amount of time doing Lieutenant's paperwork, stood up from his desk with a sigh and went to open the door.

"I could be dying, Byaku-- FINALLY." She pushed her way into the room and watched him close the door.

"What is it, Arisu?"

"What color is she gonna wear as a wedding kimono?" Arisu dropped herself down to be sitting on Byakuya's bed.

"... what are you talking about?" Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

"Hisana-san, you moron! What color is she going to wear? More importantly... when is this wedding?" She bounced up and down in excitement.

"... Arisu." Byakuya walked over to his desk slowly and sat down, turning his chair to face her. "We're not even engaged yet."

Arisu's eyes went wide. "You... aren't?"

Byakuya shook his head.

"What are you waiting for, then?!"

"These things need to be timed well, Arisu," he replied calmly.

"Awww! That's my Bya-chan!" She jumped off the bed and went over to him to pinch his cheeks, causing him to swat her hands away like flies with a frown. He hated that nickname. Yachiru had overheard it used once and he'd never been rid of it since. Stupid Arisu and her immaturity.

Arisu walked to the door. "Do you have an estimate as to when the wedding should be?"

Byakuya pondered this for a moment, then sighed, shaking his head. "We don't even know each other well enough, yet, Arisu."

"But you love her, don't you?"

Byakuya visibly tensed up. Did he...? Looking back at his desk, he resumed the paperwork, choosing not to answer his cousin.

---

The next five years went by relatively quickly. Hisana and Byakuya spent every day together – unless Byakuya had a mission, of course – and she began spending the night at the residence regularly. She had grown accustomed to staying there, and, quite honestly, she had no complaints, either.

The servants loved her, she noticed, which was a nice change compared to the usual dirty looks she received from every Kuchiki other than Byakuya and Arisu. The elders never even bothered looking at her, and Byakuya was constantly called out on having her stay. He quickly put them back in their place, however, stating that the house was under his command, and if he wanted a guest to stay there, the guest was going to stay and that was final.

They had resumed their night walks and went walking in Rukongai in search of Rukia every night, a trip Byakuya wasn't comfortable with for at least the first two months. Hisana understood his tension with being in such a terrible district and when some drunk, and seemingly insane, thugs decided to try to attack them, Byakuya quickly defeated them and sent the thugs running. Hisana immediately noticed the tremendous difference between herself and Byakuya; she would have panicked and tried to run, whereas he was quick to defend her and was certainly strong enough to do so.

Needless to say, she felt safe and happy around him and whenever he had brought up going to Inuzuri to try to find her sister, it touched her in a way she never knew possible. He obviously cared a lot about her, but whether or not the care had developed into love was still unclear.

She did know that she definitely felt something for HIM and when she had talked to Arisu privately about it, Arisu nodded quickly and told Hisana that if it wasn't love, she had no idea what it could be.

Arisu, who had been patiently waiting for Byakuya to propose to Hisana, had brought up marriage with Hisana several times. Hisana never fully responded, but she knew she didn't feel ready to fully commit herself to Byakuya until she found her sister. And with the academy taking up a huge amount of her time, taking time out to plan a wedding was certainly out of the question. But she did want to marry him, she decided. She enjoyed his company and his tiny ways of showing affection far too much to be without him.

But first... a proposal was needed, and from what Arisu could tell, Byakuya was close to finally proposing. He was certainly more perceptive than she was and she realized that he more than likely knew how Hisana felt and simply decided she wasn't ready for marriage yet and was waiting for the opportune moment.

Either that, or he wasn't ready, but from the way he looked at her and the fact that he smiled more during the day – at home, at least; he had an image to uphold, after all – he was certainly ready.

In regards to news in Soul Society, there had been two deaths of captains during a mission and the resignation of another. The details surrounding these captains was quickly patched up and hidden away to only those closely involved and rumors were spreading rapidly. Fourth Division's captain resigned shortly after the importance of the deaths of the Sixth and Tenth Division captains had mysteriously been discarded. Apparently, the captain didn't like the way things were being handled and 'jumped ship', so to speak.

Of all the death gods who specialized in healing, most of the remaining captains of the Gotei 13 had decided that Unohana Retsu was certainly the only one fit for the job to replace the captain of Fourth Division. Six of the captains recommended her, and three had approved of her, and within the blink of an eye she had her lovely white captain's haori and was greatly admired by all of the females in the fourth division. Soon after, having been working on it already, she had successfully achieved her bankai, and gained the respect of the remaining captains who didn't think a mere seated-officer could replace a captain.

The position of Tenth Division captain was given to the child-prodigy and past classmate of Retsu and Byakuya, Hitsugaya Toshirou. He had, much like his speeding through the academy, gotten his bankai faster than most had expected and proved his ability to use it, gaining him the position of captain. With much snickering and taunting, Hitsugaya moved into his office and set everything up, becoming the youngest captain to ever gain the position.

Finally, the position of Sixth Division captain was assigned half a year before that of the Tenth, and was given to none other than Kuchiki Byakuya. Proving himself with bankai, he also was given his haori and an office and became, if at all possible, more famous in Soul Society. Upon hearing the news that his bankai had been a deceivingly beautiful array of flower petals, the fangirls had increased their oogling over him and begged to see at least his shikai, hoping it was at least half as beautiful as his bankai had been famed to be.

One afternoon, three months after Hitsugaya's promotion to captain, Hisana and Byakuya were walking through the academy courtyard towards the exit. The school year had already been in session for almost four months, and the start of the second semester was drawing ominously close. Wearing his white haori to symbolize his rank, he had his fingers entwined with hers as she leaned on his arm.

It had been not too long ago since they began holding hands in public and it still drew stares, glares and jawdrops from all around. His facial expression was blank and cold, as usual, only smiling slightly when he spoke to her.

"You know... the flowers at the estate are very nice this time of year." Byakuya looked down at Hisana. "We should get you a nice one for your hair."

Hisana nodded, ignoring the glares she was receiving from the fan club as they left the academy grounds. "I didn't get to eat any lunch today; had to talk to my instructor."

"I haven't either... Captains' meeting ran extremely late," Byakuya remarked with a slight frown. "We can eat under the large tree if you wish."

Hisana nodded again, looking up at Byakuya with a smile. "That would be nice, Byakuya-sama."

"And while we're there... there's something I wish to talk to you about, Hisana."

----------  
**Phew. Covering five years of their lives was tough. Not a lot of speaking, but oh well. Chapter 21 will certainly be up tomorrow.**


	22. Chapter TwentyOne

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Princess LeBlanc: Byakuya and Hisana are the cutest couple everrrrrr. :D (There, is that enough mention for you? ;P)

Kotomi-sama: She's still friends with Matsumoto! D: I was just about to drag her back in.

Conterra-san: A proposal under the cherry tree is certainly a possibility. :D

_A/N: __Haha, I noticed a lot of you were irked with me skipping five years. But their relationship really had to grow and since Byakuya is so held back in terms of his emotions and Hisana's so unready to completely commit herself to him, he patiently waited and blahblahblah. And besides. This way, they're already so close and stuff that they'll be extra lovey-dovey once they're actually married.  
_

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE

"Hisana-chaaaaaaaaaaaaan!"

Hisana stopped short, causing Byakuya to stop and look down at her. She turned her head back and her eyes went wide. "Rangiku-chan...?"

Matsumoto, who was running as fast as she could, stopped in front of Byakuya and Hisana and doubled over, putting her hands on her knees and panting. "There you are! I was looking for you, Hisana-chan!"

"Looking... for me?" Hisana blinked in confusion, letting go of Byakuya's hand. "Why?"

Matsumoto flashed a toothy grin, still bent down. "There's a party tonight. Cute guys. Drinks. You do the math."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow.

"Ooo! Who's this guy? You could bring him, you know."

Matsumoto, who hadn't taken a good look at the man standing next to her friend, finally glanced over to see his captain's haori. "A captain?"

Looking up to see his face, she blinked repeatedly before standing up straight and scratching her head, laughing loudly. "Captain Kuchiki! Fancy meeting you here! I was just kidding about the party! Hisana-chan isn't one to party, I was just pulling her leg."

"Of course." Byakuya took a few steps passed Matsumoto before glancing over his shoulder to Hisana. "You can stay and talk to your friend, Hisana. I'll have them prepare lunch."

Hisana nodded slowly and stood with Matsumoto, watching him leave.

"I was... just about to head over to the Kuchiki manor with Byakuya-sama, Rangiku-chan," Hisana said quietly, with a blush.

"He lets you in? That place looks AWESOME from the outside."

Hisana nodded. "It's wonderful in there. I stay there often."

"... stay there?" Matsumoto wrapped her arm around Hisana with a smirk. "You spend the night with him? Why was I kept out of the loop, Hisana-chan? I thought we were best friends..." Matsumoto put on an obviously fake frown. "I'm hurt... How long has this been going on?"

"... Um..." Hisana pondered it for a moment before blushing a deep red. "Five years."

Matsumoto's jaw dropped. "...five... years...? YOU KEPT ME OUT OF THE LOOP FOR FIVE YEARS?!"

"I did not. You saw us eating lunch each day. And leaving together. And I did too tell you a lot of things; it's not my fault you weren't listening," Hisana replied defensively.

"I didn't think there was anything SERIOUS between the two of you! I thought he was training you or something!" Matsumoto pouted.

"Oh... he does." Hisana smiled dreamily. "He helps me with demon magic and with soul slayer wielding... Any questions I have, really..."

Matsumoto raised an eyebrow. "... oh really? And what else does he do?"

"Oh, LOADS of things. He smiles often with me, Rangiku-chan!" She began walking in the direction of the manor, Matsumoto following close behind. "And he lets me hold his hand... and we talk about EVERYTHING."

"... you talk about everything with the ice cold Kuchiki Byakuya?" Matsumoto sounded skeptical.

Hisana nodded. "Everything."

"Anything else...?" Matsumoto put her hands up behind her head, sticking her signature chest out.

"Well..." Hisana blushed, recalling other things the two of them had done. "We've... well..."

"... what? Kissed?" Matsumoto raised her eyebrow at Hisana, clearly doubting it was possible for Byakuya to even hug a person. Her eyes went wide when Hisana nodded slowly. "WHAT?! That's so... There's NO WAY you kissed him! That's... IMPOSSIBLE."

"This is why I didn't want to tell you, Rangiku-chan. You make a big fuss about everything... And besides. I don't kiss him, he usually kisses me."

And for the first time in her life, Matsumoto Rangiku was rendered speechless.

---

At some point during their walk, a very cheerful Hisana and a very upset-to-have-been-kept-in-the-dark Matsumoto parted ways. Upon arriving at the manor, she was greeted by Kanaye, who had informed her that Byakuya was waiting for her at the bridge, and that he insisted she didn't rush in changing out of her uniform.

This had been, of course, because for the first time since his childhood, Kuchiki Byakuya felt a tinge of nervousness and he wanted to buy himself some time to compose himself. Why, exactly, he had no idea. He supposed he was frightened of her reaction, which had contributed to his delay in asking what he wanted to, along with his understanding of her situation regarding Rukia.

Recently, Byakuya began realizing that her smile when she was at the manor began to grow less natural and more forced, and he felt being rejected by the clan as an outsider had contributed to that. Thus, he decided, the only way to get her smile to be the way he loved it to be would be to have her no longer be an outsider.

It seemed almost crazy to him at first when realized that her smile meant so much, but then he realized that her laughter meant just as much. As did the look in her eyes, and the sound of her voice. At a loss as to why he felt such things for her, he simply discarded his confusion and tried to ignore it.

That is, until he realized he felt sick when she wasn't there, and miraculously felt better just when he could see her smile during her lunch break. Arisu, who had noticed Byakuya's minor change in personality, eventually forced his 'symptoms' out of him, and had diagnosed him with a bad case of 'love sickness', she called it.

"When you feel a certain way about a person and you're unsure if they feel it back," she had said, "And it makes you sick to be without them... that's called love. Or rather, what you're experiencing is a love SICKNESS."

Love sickness? He hadn't even known what love felt like and now it was making him sick? How did that make any sense?

Regardless, he assumed it to be true when he started to notice that he couldn't help but smile when he was with her and hearing her yawn when she was sleepy was something that he would wait all night to be able to hear.

Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice Hisana approach and when she wrapped her arms around him from behind, she certainly gave him a surprise. "You wanted to talk to me about something, Byakuya-sama?"

Byakuya nodded slowly and took her hands in his, turning to face her. "Let's eat first, hm?"

As they walked towards the food that had been set out for them under the cherry blossom tree by the bridge, Hisana sat down first and smiled at Byakuya, who sat down next to her. Hisana held up a flower and handed it to a slightly confused Byakuya. "I found it. I thought it was pretty for my hair, so I picked it to save you the trouble of finding it."

Byakuya smiled and took it before gently placing it in her hair and leaning back to admire her.

_There's that look I can't describe again..._ Hisana blushed and shyly looked away.

Slowly reaching over to get some food, Hisana offered some to Byakuya with a forced smile. "I'm sorry about Rangiku-chan... she's... a little crazy."

Byakuya shook his head, forcing a smile as well as he took the food. "She seems close to you."

Hisana nodded and ate the food quietly.

The air was tense as they ate in silence, each occasionally glancing over at the other, opening their mouth to speak and then stopping themselves a moment later. After an extremely tense and quiet lunch, Byakuya leaned back against the tree and Hisana inched her way closer before finally leaning her head against his shoulder.

Letting out a content sigh, Hisana looked up at Byakuya, who had wrapped his arm around her to draw her closer, and smiled before looking back to watch the cherry blossom petals rain down on the river. "I really enjoy spending time with you, Byakuya-sama."

Byakuya nodded and planted a light kiss on the top of her head before leaning his head against hers. "Hisana..."

"Yes?"

Byakuya slowly lifted his head up and Hisana turned her head to look at him. "Well..."

He turned his gaze to her and seemed to search her eyes before continuing. "I was..."

Hisana sat up straight slowly, turning her torso to face him.

"I was thinking. Well... more wondering, I suppose..."

"Well... you see... I realized recently..." Byakuya pursed his lips briefly, inwardly cursing himself for not feeling comfortable sharing his emotions. "That..."

"Well... there's this... feeling I have."

"A feeling?" Hisana frowned. "What kind of feeling? Is it bad?"

Byakuya shook his head, smiling. "Not a bad one. Certainly not a bad one."

"It's just that... when I'm not near you..." Byakuya moved his hand to run his fingers through her hair. "I feel... empty inside. Sick, almost."

"And I realized," Byakuya continued, "That I feel completely and incandescently happy when I'm able to be with you."

Hisana blushed. "I..."

Byakuya put a finger to her lips, continuing still. "And this led me to realize that... I never wish to be apart from you again if I can help it."

"And I know you said that your search for your sister is your main priority in life... but... I want to be able to help you carry that burden; to be here when you need me as a pillar for support when you feel like quitting."

Hisana felt tears forming in her eyes, Byakuya moving his hands to cup her face, his thumbs wiping away the tears that had fallen. "Hisana... Would you let me have the honor of being your husband?"

----------  
**Yay! He proposed! Chapter 22 up tomorrow after I finish my exam and write it, of course. :P**


	23. Chapter TwentyTwo

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Kotomi-sama: Well, you know Matsumoto. Party, party, party! (Hint, hint.)

BlackVelvetBand: Actually, I wasn't. But after reading my chapter over and glancing over on my shelf, I realized that some of the things were an awful lot like _Pride and Prejudice_. Hehe, I've seen that movie so many times, the lines must've floated out of my subconscious, to my fingers, and in the chapter.

_A/N: This one's kinda short, but today was stupidly busy and I have no idea why... D: Long one up tomorrow if I find the time. ;-;_

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

"I..." Hisana brought her hands up to grasp his gently, forcing them down. Wiping her own tears, she looked at Byakuya, searching his face slowly. She knew what she wanted to say... but... why wouldn't her lips say what her mind was already shouting? What was holding her back?

Tears formed in her eyes from frustration and she threw her arms around him, burying her face into his robes, crying softly. Byakuya slowly raised his hand up and ran his fingers gently through her hair in an attempt to comfort her and remain strong. What exactly was running through her head?

Sniffling and pulling back slowly, Hisana wiped her tears away and looked down at her hands that she had placed in her lap. She slowly raised her gaze to meet his, her eyes full of new tears as she stared into his eyes. She searched his eyes slowly, finding traces admiration, joy, and, something she had never seen before in him, nervousness.

Unsure if her vocal chords were going to cooperate with her, she decided to give her reply in a different manner and slowly leaned forward, pressing her lips to his gently – once, twice, then three times – before embracing him once more, her head resting against his chest.

Byakuya smiled down at her. "Am I to interpret that as a yes?"

Hisana pulled back and sat up straight once more, blushing and looking into his eyes again as she nodded. She let out a small giggle when she saw all the emotions in his eyes suddenly melt away to an incontrollable relieved joy. "Goodness... eyes really are a gateway to the soul..."

Byakuya felt a smile creep across his lips and he leaned forward as Hisana closed her eyes, gently planting soft kisses on her forehead, then her eyelids, then trailed down to her cheeks until finally resting on her lips, lingering briefly as he brought his hands up to cup her face in them before pulling back.

They remained there in that position, staring into each other's eyes while the rest of the world seemed to go silent. Unable to contain the immense joy he felt, Byakuya leaned forward again to claim her lips with his once more.

Just then, Arisu came up around the bend of the path and waved her arms madly, squinting to try to figure out what they were up to. "BYAKUYAAAA! HISANA-SAN!"

"BYAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAKUYA!" Getting closer, her eyes went wide when she finally could see them clearly and flinched when she saw Byakuya pull back and look over at her with a... happy-eyed frown?

Hisana blushed slightly and smiled at Arisu when she finally arrived at the tree and looked between the two of them slowly.

"... uh... so..."

"What is it, Arisu?"

..._Byakuya's smiling? I interrupt them and he's SMILING?_ "Well... A young woman is here for Hisana-san. Matsumoto Rangiku? She says you know her, Byakuya."

"... ah, yes. Her. Briefly." Byakuya stood up slowly and offered his hand to Hisana. "Let's go to her, then."

Arisu shook her head. "No, I need to speak with you alone anyways, cousin. Hisana-san knows the way back, I'm sure."

Hisana took Byakuya's hand and stood up, nodding. "Just follow the path."

"Exactly, Hisana-san. I knew you could do it." Arisu watched Hisana and Byakuya reluctantly release hands and waved goodbye to Hisana as she headed down the path.

Once she was sure Hisana was out of earshot, she looked at her cousin with a raised eyebrow. "And you refuse to admit you love her."

"I just never said it out loud, Arisu. That doesn't mean I refuse to admit it." Byakuya watched Hisana walk down the path with a smile, following her with his eyes.

"So how goes Operation: Marry Hisana?" Arisu followed Byakuya's gaze slowly and smirked. "Any advances?"

Byakuya nodded, finding it nearly impossible to contain his joy. "She said yes."

"...yes?" Arisu looked at Byakuya, a trace of confusion in her face that immediately turned into shock. "SHE SAID YES?!"

Byakuya nodded again. Arisu jumped up and down repeatedly in a fit of excitement before throwing her arms around Byakuya. "Congratulaaaations! When do we want the wedding?! Soon?! I'LL GET RIGHT ON IT!" Releasing him quickly, she turned and headed quickly down the path towards the manor.

Byakuya sighed and shook his head, following behind her with a smile plastered on his that he couldn't seem to get rid of. And, to be honest, he was sure he didn't really want to.

----------  
**And so Matsumoto invades the Kuchiki manor. Will Hisana be able to keep THIS from Matsumoto? Probably not. :3... Matsumoto's reaction to the manor, and Hisana's wonderful news, will be up tomorrow after graduation rehearsal.**


	24. Chapter TwentyThree

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Conterra-san: Actually, according to your profile, we live in the same time zone. I just tend to not sleep if I don't have to wake up early. Actually, I tend to not sleep until 3 AM even if I have to wake up early and just take a nap after school. Oddly enough, I function better that way. XD And I'm glad you stumbled across my fic while slacking off in class. :D I do the same thing!

thelovablechelsea: Welcome back! I actually thought for a moment that I scared you off when I put that message at the start of chapter 20 and it made me very sad. D: But now you're back! And I'm glad you still like my storyyyy. ;3

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

"WHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAT?"

As the servant slided the manor entrance open for Byakuya, he stepped in slowly and observed the scene in front of him.

Hisana was standing aside, her face buried in her hands, blushing a brilliantly bright shade of red that would make a cherry quite jealous.

Arisu was standing in front of the girl named Matsumoto, nodding quickly. "Yep. It's true."

Matsumoto's jaw was hanging open. "But just... before... I was... and she ... and now..." Her gaze turned to look at Byakuya, who approached Hisana to see if she wasn't ready to die from embarrassment. "They... he..."

Arisu nodded slowly. "I know. Shocking, isn't it? Who would want to marry HIM?"

Matsumoto looked from Byakuya to Hisana repeatedly, blinked a few times then looked at Arisu. "... getting married?"

Byakuya raised an eyebrow and looked at Matsumoto. "Weren't you the one who was perfectly capable of formulating witty sentences not too long ago?"

Hisana, no matter how much Byakuya tried to gently pry her hands away from her face, remained in that position, shaking her head repeatedly. "At this rate, the entire academy will know within an hour..."

Matsumoto's eyes began wandering across the walls of the manor. "You don't want the academy to know? It would stop their stupid remarks about you in the hallways, you know. ... that vase over there is very nice, by the way, Captain Kuchiki."

Arisu went over to Hisana and forcefully pulled her hands away from her face. "There's nothing to be ashamed of, my dear Hisana-san. He proposed, you said yes. You should be telling to world you're getting married. It's a happy day."

Hisana nodded slowly, still remaining a shade of red and looking down at the floor. "I just... I don't want..."

Byakuya glanced at Hisana briefly and then looked sternly at Arisu. "This is not to spread around Seireitei. It stays in the house." Moving his gaze to Matsumoto, he continued, "In fact. It stays between us. Do you understand me?"

Arisu and Matsumoto nodded simultaneously.

---

Several hours later, after Matsumoto had forced her way into a tour around the manor, she also managed to get herself invited to dinner at the Kuchiki manor.

Needless to say, the elders were not pleased.

She was seated next to Hisana, forcing Arisu to move across the table and sit opposite Hisana next to Byakuya. While Matsumoto made her usual loud jokes and laughed often with Arisu, the elders remained silent, muttering under their breaths and watching Byakuya intently.

Byakuya was focusing completely on his new fiancée, smiling continuously and occasionally reaching over to move hair out of Hisana's face. Of course, the elders had no idea that the two were engaged to be married, and the dramatic change in Byakuya's character had surprised them all.

Matsumoto, who of course opted to drink sake with her meal, began getting tipsy by the time dinner was drawing to a close. As with most drunken ramblings, she made absolutely no sense half the time, drew dirty looks, caused eye rolls, and made the elders sigh in disgust.

Her obviously disapproved of behavior was mostly poorly ignored by the members of the Kuchiki household. That is, of course, until she focused her attention on the newly engaged couple and stupidly opened her mouth.

"Sooo! When's the weddin'?" Matsumoto slurred out with a hiccup and a giggle as she pointed to her chest. "Not too soon, I 'ope. I need some time to find a good kimono that'll fit these babies."

Suddenly, the already semi-silent room became tense and completely quiet.

Matsumoto looked around. "What?! You all didn't know!? These two are engaged now!" Matsumoto raised her sake bottle and downed it, forgetting to mention, and then forgetting to carry out, the toast she was going to give.

Arisu looked around the room nervously, looking between the angry elders to Byakuya, who, for some reason, looked completely calm. "... so how about I show Matsumoto-san the ... uh ... garden." She stood up slowly. "Let's go, Matsumoto-san."

Matsumoto also stood up, stumbling out of her chair, grabbing her sake bottle and walking out with Arisu, offering her some sake as she used her as a support to prevent herself from falling over.

The head elder, who had watched Matsumoto leave with a genuine look of disgust, turned his gaze to Byakuya. "Engaged? Since when?"

Byakuya's gaze never wavered as he leaned back in his chair before replying, "This afternoon. What of it?"

Hisana frowned and put her hands on her lap, looking down. _And here comes another round of arguments..._

The elder narrowed his eyes. "Have you gone mad?"

"It's possible." Byakuya glanced over at Hisana, reaching to take her hand to give it a light squeeze of reassurance.

"Do you wish to disgrace us, Byakuya?"

"Are you going to spout the disgraceful nonsense again? I figured getting the captain's position was more than enough to shut you up about that."

"Insolen--" The elder glared at Byakuya as he cut in.

"Regardless. Arisu, if I'm not mistaken, already cleared this situation up with you quite some time ago. And even if you DID have a problem with it..." He looked at Hisana with a slight smile before looking back at the elder. "That wouldn't stop me."

"Now... if you'll excuse us." Byakuya stood up slowly, offering his hand to Hisana, who looked up and took it with a little hesitation. "We have a wedding to start planning."

----------  
**Another update tomorrow after graduation. I'm feeling a little under the weather today, so the chapter wasn't as long as I had expected it to be... but tomorrow is going to cover quite a lot (not the wedding, so don't get your hopes up. D;)**


	25. Chapter TwentyFour

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

_So last night I came home from dinner with the family, felt disgustingly sick and passed out. So here's the chapter I promised yesterday, but my body disobeyed me and didn't allow me to post up. :( I'm feeling much better after sleeping a bajillion hours, though._

thelovablechelsea: Nope, those five years are not the same MARRIED five years, fear not. We still have lots (kinda ;-;) of Byakuya and Hisana goodness coming up.

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

"Okay! So! Do we want white and red or white and pink? Or just plain white... or just plain pink...?" Arisu was shuffling through a variety of different kimonos, waving them around with each respective color.

"Pink would blend too much with the flowers of the garden, Arisu," Byakuya replied slowly, obviously forced to join in the 'festivities' of picking out a wedding kimono. In his own room, no less. He sat down in the chair at his desk, having it turned out to face his bed, where a wide array of women's kimonos were sprawled out in no particular order.

Hisana nodded slowly. "It is pretty though..."

Matsumoto looked the kimono over and then looked at Hisana. "I dunno... pink might not... maybe a darker pink?"

Hisana tilted her head to the side, looking at the pink kimono thoughtfully. "You know... I was kind of thinking along the lines of traditionally white. And then a red one at the reception..."

Matsumoto looked at Hisana with a frown. "Traditional? Why?"

"Well... I don't know. But... well, unless Byakuya-sama had something else in mind."

Arisu rolled her eyes. "He doesn't matter. Well, he does. But whatever. It's your kimono. And if you're worried that you have to be traditional because we're noble, don't worry. Besides. Your wedding is anything BUT traditional."

Hisana looked at the white kimono Arisu had lifted up for a moment before speaking up again. "It's so delicate looking, you know? And besides, it's supposed to symbolize purity and whatnot, isn't it?"

Arisu nodded. "I'm partial to white myself. Anyways. I had them make these kimonos with the pink one I met you in as a template. So they should fit perfectly."

Matsumoto looked at Hisana with her jaw dropped with a you're-getting-spoiled-already look.

Moving over to the large comfortable chair near to window, Arisu picked up another array of kimonos that were much more intricate with decorations.

"Sorry about taking over your chair, Byakuya." Dropping the kimonos onto the bed, Arisu smiled nervously. "And your bed."

"And my room. Am I really needed for this?"

Matsumoto frowned at Byakuya. "Any normal grown man wouldn't complain to have three beautiful women in his room."

"Three? I only see one. And my cousin." Byakuya leaned back in his chair. "Where do you fit in?"

Matsumoto opened her mouth to respond only to shut it again. "I've never had someone say that to me before."

Arisu frowned jokingly at Byakuya, who looked at her coldly. "Aw... Is Bya-chan getting cranky?"

Hisana, after successfully stifling a laugh at Byakuya's frown from the nickname, walked over to her fiancé and sat on his lap, wrapping her arm around him. "You don't have to stay if you don't want to."

Byakuya's expression had melted into a smile again, as it had a tendency to do when he was talking to Hisana, and he wrapped his arm around her waist. "I'm only staying because I was under the impression you wanted me to."

Matsumoto smiled at the two of them and looked at Arisu, who was doing the same. Arisu looked at Matsumoto. "You know, he only smiles with her. When it comes to me, his loving cousin, I only get cold looks and monotone responses."

"Wait so..." Matsumoto looked at all the kimonos spread across the bed. "These are all hers then?"

Arisu nodded. "Yeah, they're all fitted to her. And they... officially... belong to the house of Kuchiki..."

Byakuya's gaze left Hisana's face and went to the bed, and then to Arisu. "To the house of Kuchiki? And who paid for them?"

"Well," Arisu paused, biting her lower lip. "You. But they're for your lovely bride, so no complaints!"

---

After a couple of hours of deliberating what pattern Hisana should wear at the reception, Hisana finally put her foot down and demanded she wore the red one with the Chinese bell flowers and the cranes.

Byakuya whole-heartedly agreed, partial to the bell flowers and the way the kimono fit on Hisana.

And thus, with both members of the happy couple on the same side, Matsumoto and Arisu were clearly outnumbered, both of them partial to different patterns and unable to join forces to create a united front.

Matsumoto looked out the window, with a frown and a sigh. "It looks like it's getting late... Is Hisana-chan going back to her house tonight?"

Arisu, who was drinking from a glass of water, spat out the water in laughter. "Hisana-san hasn't been to her house in weeks."

Matsumoto looked at Byakuya and Hisana, the two of them standing at the window watching the sun set. They were talking amongst themselves, and from what she could tell, they were both seemingly happy. "Well, I should get going then. Academy in the morning."

Arisu nodded. "I'll walk you out. Those two lovebirds probably want to be left alone."

"Good bye, Hisana-chan! I'll see you tomorrow! And thank you for letting me come back to the manor after what happened last week, Captain Kuchiki." Matsumoto began to bow, but then stopped, knowing that Byakuya wasn't watching.

Hisana looked over her shoulder. "Do you want me to walk you out, Rangiku-chan?" Matsumoto shook her head, signaling that Arisu was already showing her out. "I'll see you tomorrow at academy then, Rangiku-chan."

---

For some reason, the dirty looks in the classrooms became dirtier. The whispers in the hallway seemed louder. The shoving in the hallways became rougher.

Was it just her imagination, or had her classmates changed towards her? What was so different now other than...

_The wedding... _ Hisana, who had not been paying attention to her classes all day, stood up abruptly when the bell sounded to allow the students to go to lunch. _How did it leak... Rangiku-chan swore she'd keep it a secret. _

Bolting out of the room, she turned the corner and ran in the direction of the courtyard, dodging people and ignoring the razor-sharp glares she was receiving. _I hope he's here today... he has the captain's meeting. Please let it finish on time..._

Turning into the courtyard, she stopped and looked around frantically, only to be pushed from behind. She stumbled forward and turned around. _Oh great. _

The fan club leader, whose name was revealed to be Yumiko, stood there glaring. "Word of mouth says you're getting married. How'd you manage that?"

"Who told you?" Hisana took a step back, looking around the courtyard and inwardly cursing the fact that the captain meetings never finished on time as a group of students formed a large circle around the two of them.

"Told me? My family owns the kimono shop Kuchiki Arisu came to for the wedding kimonos." Yumiko took a step closer to Hisana. "How did you trick him into marrying you?"

Byakuya turned the corner into the courtyard and noticed the gathering. He walked towards the mob-like formation of students and observed from a slight distance to try to figure out if he could pinpoint where Hisana was.

"Let GO of me!"

_Hisana. _Byakuya stepped closer to the group and tapped the person in front of him on the shoulder. The student turned and his eyes went wide. "Captain Kuchiki!" Moving out of the way, the students, upon hearing his name, cleared a path for Byakuya.

When he stepped into the center, the courtyard's muttering amongst the students as to why Yumiko was targeting the quiet Hisana came to a dead silence. Yumiko immediately let go of Hisana's wrist and pushed her roughly into Byakuya. "Watch your back, you deceiving wench."

Hisana flinched at the harshness of Yumiko's words, and looked up to see Byakuya's gaze become colder. Yumiko looked away after a few moments of staring into his eyes and turned to leave, the circle of students starting to break up.

Byakuya and Hisana, after a few moments of conversing through their eyes, went to sit under their usual tree in the courtyard. After the initial buzz about the events of the start of lunch hour had died down, and the constant watching had subsided, Hisana rested her head on Byakuya's shoulder. "Her family owns the kimono shop Arisu-san got the kimonos from," she said suddenly.

Byakuya didn't respond.

"This is why I wanted to keep it a secret... I knew the fan club would get jealous and then drag everyone else down with them..." Hisana sighed and took Byakuya's hand in hers, weaving their fingers together.

Byakuya looked down at Hisana sadly. _First at the manor, and then here... _"I'm signing you out. You're not staying here alone."

Hisana was taken aback and sat up to look at him. "Where will we go then? The manor?"

Byakuya shook his head. "I have to head back to the office. Would you like to come with me?"

Hisana pondered this for a moment and then nodded. "Should be fun."

Little did she know, a captain's job was a lot less exciting than she expected, and after about an hour of watching Byakuya sign papers and give orders, she went to lie down on the couch in his office.

Falling asleep, she realized that she would never be able to do his job and was certainly grateful she didn't have to. This would be the first and, hopefully, the last time she would ever come to office with him.

At least, that's what she told herself initially. After being woken up by what started with a light kiss on the forehead, as a way of telling her he was done with his work, and ended with her falling asleep again in his arms, she couldn't help but change her mind.

----------  
**I ended up adding chapter 25 to this one because... well... I felt like it. :D That's why it took a long time to get up. Two for one!**


	26. Chapter TwentyFive

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Juud: Yes, I'm feeling much better now, thanks. :D Just needed to rest for a couple of days. Have a bit of an eye infection though. XD I'm falling apart! T-T

Byakuxhisa4eva: Um, yes. She'll be introduced sooner or later. Probably at the wedding.

_A/N: Been a little down in the dumps the last few days, but I'm back and semi-healthy. :D Thank you for all your congratulations regarding my graduating and for all your well-wishing regarding my getting sick. It was just a mean cold, I think._

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

Things went about as usual in the Kuchiki household following the announcement of Byakuya's engagement to Hisana. The elders still complained, Byakuya still silenced them, Hisana was still treated well by the servants, and Arisu was still overly excited about the whole situation.

Now officially promoted to wedding planner, she could be seen bouncing around the manor making sure her 'wedding crew' was doing what they were supposed to.

Some were assigned to writing invitations and forming a top-notch guest list, some were assigned to sorting out Hisana's wardrobe for the days to come, some were assigned to annoying Byakuya in Arisu's place, and others were assigned to mapping out the cost of decorations. From an outside perspective, the whole team appeared to be quite organized. And, in general, they were.

That is, until Byakuya dismissed the team assigned to pester him. Seeing as how they were HIS servants, they had to obey and were left wandering the house not knowing what to do and generally getting in the way.

The elders were getting questions from other noble houses and individuals with influence in Seireitei, the news of the engagement leaking out through a certain kimono-making family. Dismissing the rumors as false, the elders were quite smug with their apparent success in keeping the Kuchiki name clean. Then Byakuya found out about their lies and was quick to set things straight. He was, indeed, engaged to a woman named Hisana, who was, indeed, from Rukongai. Yes, he was serious; no, he didn't care if it destroyed the purity of the in-bred nobles; yes, he was perfectly sound in terms of mental health; no, he was not going to change his mind.

Hisana continued attending the academy, staying clear of the Yumiko, and if it was impossible to do so, she had Matsumoto with her at all times, as per Byakuya's request.

A month passed with little conflict, and Byakuya made sure to make it to lunch each day. Matsumoto's schedule didn't allow her to be with Hisana during lunch and heavens knew what would happen to her if she was alone.

The weekly captains' meeting had been moved until late in the school day that week, so eating lunch together was a definite, but walking back from academy to the manor was an uncertainty. Thankfully, there was still Matsumoto, if her last class let out on time. And since it always seemed to let out on time, there shouldn't have been any problems.

But, of course, that day, the professor had decided that he wanted to keep them late as a punishment for the poor grades on the pop quiz on demon magic incantations, leaving Hisana alone in the hallways after classes waiting for her friend to arrive.

After ten minutes of standing outside the room, Hisana finally gave up and decided she'd walk to the manor alone. After all, Yumiko wouldn't be staying after school, and if it was just Yumiko she could certainly handle things on her own.

After turning the corner towards the exit of the academy, Hisana realized, upon spotting Yumiko and her posse, that the club leader was never alone.

Just what she needed. A confrontation. _Maybe if I pretend I don't see them they won't bother me._

"Well, well, well. If it isn't Hisana-chan." Wrong again.

Hisana forced a smile. "What are you staying after for, Yumiko-san?"

"Waiting for you, my dear. Captains' meeting was postponed until this afternoon. You gotta love the court-wide announcements." Yumiko took a few steps towards Hisana, smirking as Hisana took a few steps back. "I would have talked with you earlier, but that bothersome Matsumoto was always with you when your beloved fiancé wasn't."

"Although... we don't mind having your fiancé at the academy; we like him. But the fact that he's with YOU... that's something we might have to change." Yumiko flash stepped towards Hisana and grabbed her by her right hand and slammed her against the wall.

Hisana let out a scream of pain, which was immediately muffled by Yumiko's free hand which was being used to pin her against the wall as well. The fan club closed in on the two of them to eliminated Hisana's possibility of escape.

"Now, you listen to me, Hisana." Yumiko pressed down harder on Hisana's right wrist, causing tears to flow from Hisana's eyes. "You're going to call off this wedding. Kuchiki-sama deserves far better than you."

Yumiko let her grip loosen and she stepped back, the fan club still surrounding Hisana. "Do we have an understanding?"

Hisana, who was clutching her now swelling wrist, didn't respond.

Yumiko narrowed her eyes and stepped on foot towards Hisana, going to grab her once more. "Did you not hear..." She trailed off, blinking at the now empty spot where Hisana was once standing. "Where did she...?" She looked around, her eyes going wide when she finally found Hisana.

Yumiko took a step forward only to be stopped by a row of glowing pink swords falling down into the ground right in front of her feet. Looking down at her barely intact toes, she went pale before looking up. "Kuchiki-sama... I didn't..."

Byakuya's eyes narrowed slightly as he raised his hand, the flower petals that had been hovering around Hisana and himself now floating over to hover right over the fan club. "Such a wonderful thing to come back from the captains' meeting to see..."

"Although, this way, you get to see the bankai you have been fussing about. So I supposed threatening my fiancée was worth it, no?" He lowered his hand slightly, directing the petals down to the point where the fan club members ducked down in fear. "If I hear of you giving her troubles again..." He lowered his hand slightly, gently brushing the tops of the girls' heads. "I won't stop my hand."

"Do we have an understanding?"

Yumiko nodded slowly. "Y-yes, sir. I apologize, Kuchiki-sama..."

Byakuya raised his hand up and towards him, the pink swords dissolving into petals as well, and gathering together to reform the blade of Senbonzakura's unreleased state. "Hisana. Let's go."

---

Outside of the academy grounds, Hisana reached her right hand out to grab Byakuya's left and flinched, pulling it back with a quiet scream, clutching her her wrist gently.

Byakuya frowned at her. "You told me you were alright."

"I am fine. It's nothing. Just a sprain, I suppose."

"Let me see." Byakuya offered out his hand to take hers. Hisana shook her head. Frowning, Byakuya repeated himself, firmer. "Let me see it, Hisana."

Hisana bit her lip and slowly lifted her hand up to put it in his. "See? It's nothing."

Byakuya carefully looked her swollen wrist over with a frown. "It's broken. We'll go to Captain Unohana, she'll fix it enough for it to stop hurting, if not completely."

Hisana quickly pulled her hand back and shook her head defiantly. "No. I won't go."

Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "No? And why not?"

"Because you didn't. And you said that it was because you were foolish and undeserving of healing. Well, I feel foolish and undeserving. So I won't go."

Byakuya sighed and leaned down to kiss her forehead. "It's not your fault she hurt you, Hisana... How is that foolish?"

"Because I shouldn't have wandered without Rangiku-chan... and now we can't hold hands anymore because you won't be able to draw Senbonzakura out if we run into trouble if I'm holding your right hand instead of your left... like we usually do..." Hisana looked down sadly.

Byakuya smiled slightly. "Here..." He pulled the sheath of Senbonzakura out and switched it to his right side. "Now I can draw it out with my left hand and you can hold my right, how's that?"

Hisana looked up at him with a sad smile. "But now you're not used to that... you'll feel strange."

Byakuya shook his head and offered her his right hand, smiling as she took it. "Hisana... I'd feel even more strange if I had to walk home without holding your hand."

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**Wedding in the next chapter which should be up tomorrow, now that I'm feeling better.**


	27. Chapter TwentySix

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

Juud: I actually had to research a lot, and even now I'm not so sure I got it right, but that's okay. What matters is that they're married! I actually modified the marriage process a bit and made it slightly simpler.

thelovablechelsea: Ah, thank ya for pointing that out to me. :D Graduations aren't... too bad. The part that's the most fun is the throwing the caps in the air. :3

_A/N: Guys! _**Princess LeBlanc**_ wrote a sister-ish fic to this as a diary from Matsumoto's point of viewwww. :D Go readddd _**The Long Lost Diary of Rangiku Matsumoto**_ I'm actually super flattered. And I love her dearly, so you should go read. :3_

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX

Once they had arrived at the manor, Byakuya was quick to demand that he bandaged her wrist up for her because she certainly would have a tough time doing it herself. Hisana quietly agreed after little fussing, at this point suffering from too much pain to resist much.

Once in his room, he waited for her to sit on his bed before sitting next to her, carefully examining her wrist. "You really should let me take you to get this healed, Hisana..."

Hisana shook her head, obviously struggling to hold back tears. "It's not that bad..."

Byakuya looked at her sadly, lifting the bandage up to begin wrapping it. "I hate having to see you in pain..."

"It really doesn't hurt that badly, Byakuya-sama." Hisana forced a smile, inwardly thanking him for having the capabilities of being so gentle. Byakuya simply sighed, obviously knowledgeable in the pain of broken bones.

As he finished wrapping her wrist up, Arisu barged into the room. "BYAKU-CHAN."

Byakuya frowned. _Another day, another nickname._

"I need your advi-- Okay, I'll come back later." Arisu turned to leave, obviously assuming things as a result of her inability to see what they were actually doing from where she was standing.

"What is it this time?" Byakuya turned to look at her, rather annoyed at the new nickname and that his cousin was making ridiculous assumptions.

"You should put some sort of a marking on the door if you're going to spend time alone with Hisana-san, you know." Arisu turned around and flinched at his glare, coming to the realization that she was wrong. "Or I could learn to knock... Anyways... I was wondering if I could move the wedding up a couple of months? To next month maybe?"

"You might not want to do that."

"And why not?" She put her hand on her hip as Byakuya stood up slowly, revealing Hisana with a bandaged wrist. Arisu's jaw dropped. "What HAPPENED to her wrist?!"

Hisana looked down at her lap. "Long story, Arisu-san..."

Arisu sighed and looked at Byakuya. "Three months from now it is, then..."

---

Three months later, as the academy year was drawing to a close and graduation examinations for Hisana and her classmates were around the corner, Hisana found herself with a healed wrist, lots of stress, and tons of fear.

There was no way she was going to graduate with two months lost from an injury, even with the last month dedicated to attempting to catch up.

Luckily, she wasn't too bad at demon magic, so that should be fine. But sparring against the instructor with her soul slayer? That wouldn't go well. Especially with her now extremely moody wrist.

Sitting underneath the cherry blossom tree near the river of the Kuchiki grounds, Hisana tried to catch her breath. _At least I don't have to duel him for the final..._

Byakuya stood across from her, Senbonzakura drawn as he waited patiently. He watched Hisana tightly grasp the hilt of her soul slayer and stand up slowly and with great effort. "We can take a break, Hisana."

"I don't have time for a break. If I can't even land a hit on you when you're going easy on me, how can I expect to pass my final?" Hisana raised her soul slayer shakily.

"You're pushing yourself too hard. You'll injure yourself." Byakuya slowly began putting Senbonzakura away. "We're taking a break."

---

Arisu, in her quickness to schedule things without planning ahead, had made the foolish mistake of planning the wedding the day after the graduation ceremony for those who had passed their finals. Thus, many preparations were still underway, most of which Hisana was desperately needed for, but opted not to attend.

As a result, neither did Byakuya, who decided he would stay with Hisana to help her remain sane and confident in her abilities as they did last minute training in all the subjects she needed for the death god license.

In a state of panic, Arisu ran about the grounds searching for them, finding them in their usual spot, Hisana practicing demon magic incantations. "You! I need you!" She pointed a finger at Hisana and then at Byakuya. "And YOU! Where have you two been?!"

Hisana sighed and looked at Arisu. "Here. Training. I have finals."

"No no, you have a WEDDING in a little over a week. You need to be picking decorations and kimonos and floral arrangements!"

"No. I need to be studying."

Arisu shook her head, gaining a glare from Byakuya. "You BOTH need to be planning this wedding."

Hisana narrowed her eyes, very irritable from the stress. "You don't understand. I need to pass to graduate. I won't be in the mood to get married if I fail these exams."

"Hisana-san..."

"No, I said! Just go away and leave me alone! I'm busy! You can take him with you! He'll help you with your decorations and flowers and all that nonsense!"

Byakuya sighed and walked towards Arisu. "Let's go, Arisu. You've caused enough trouble for one day."

As a result of her panic, Hisana successfully passed each of her final exams with wonderful marks. Her cramming had not gone in vain and when she received her death god license with Matsumoto and the rest of her class, she couldn't help but run over to Byakuya and kiss him in public.

Byakuya, slightly shocked at first, pulled back reluctantly. "What happened to keeping us a secret?"

Hisana smiled and took his hand, pulling him towards the manor. "Come on, let's go back before Arisu-san has a heart attack."

---

"Okay. So today, Byakuya's going to wear his captain's haori and his death god uniform and soul slayer, as is custom with captains getting married. And Hisana has to get changed and we need to have her have a grand entrance of sorts... and she has no real family, does she? So Matsumoto's going to be her representative, and I'll be Byakuya's because he doesn't have living parents either and the elders are stupid."

Arisu paced back and forth in front of Hisana, Byakuya, Kanaye, Matsumoto and the entire wedding planning crew.

"And we need to make sure the guests are comfortable and there's enough tea to go around before the sake ceremony."

"Alright, everyone. We have three hours before the wedding ceremony officially starts. So Hisana needs to come with me and Matsumoto back to her house and we're going to get her all dolled up for the wedding. And Byakuya can handle dressing himself because... his outfit isn't complicated."

Arisu turned to look at the wedding crew. "You all have to show the guests in. The captains of the Gotei 13 sit with each other at the nice table. And, Captain Ukitake has to sit closest to the seat where Byakuya is going to sit. Hisana's seat is obviously next to Byakuya's and the classmates have the various little tables where they can pick their own spots, alright?" She watched the servants nod slowly. "Good. Let's get this plan started then!"

---

After what seemed an eternity, Arisu arrived back at the manor to help check up on things as the first guests began arriving. Hisana was going to show up a little later than the time on the invitation to make sure everyone was there for her entrance in her white kimono. Byakuya spent time talking with the captains who had already arrived, most of them shocked about the whole situation, but equally happy for him.

"It's a strange sight to see Kuchiki Byakuya smile," Ukitake pointed out, "and if anyone is the cause of his smile, he should stay with that person at all times."

When Matsumoto finally arrived, the entire outdoor area of guests went silent. Standing next to a very nicely dressed Matsumoto was a figure in all white, walking in such a way that she appeared to float. Byakuya, who had been talking to Ukitake and Hitsugaya, stopped mid-sentence when he caught a glimpse of his future bride out of the corner of his eye and went silent, his eyes full of admiration.

He had seen the kimono when Arisu held it up, but didn't get the chance to actually see it on Hisana, the shock of how stunning she looked rendering him speechless. Arisu and Matsumoto approached each other with boxes and exchanged them, each box holding a gift from one family to the other.

After an hour or so, Arisu stood up and signaled the servant to bring forward the cups for the sake ceremony between the bride and groom.

Byakuya and Hisana came forward, the whole area going silent again. Arisu stepped forward and set three cups down in front of them: one small, one medium and one large. Pouring a small amount of sake into each, she put the bottle down and lifted the smallest one, handing it to Hisana. "As the guest to this house, Hisana-san, you drink first. Please take three sips before handing the cup to him."

Hisana did so, taking three sips before handing it to Byakuya who did the same. Arisu then lifted the middle medium-sized cup, handing it to Byakuya, telling him the same process. The last cup reversed the process once more and Byakuya put the large cup down, taking the last sip.

Arisu smiled and put the set aside. "This ceremony represents the unity of the two of you as a married couple. Hisana-san, if you would please accompany me back to your room."

After Byakuya and Hisana had left the area to go change their outfits, Byakuya changing into his noble's haori and removing his soul slayer and Hisana putting her red over-kimono on top of her white one, they entered the area together and sat down next to each other at the head of the large table.

Arisu brought the sake set forward again, the servants placing small cups of sake in front of everyone else at the reception.

"Now, as the head of the house, Byakuya drinks first and the process is repeated." Arisu handed the smallest cup to Byakuya, watching him take three sips before he handed it to Hisana, who did the same.

The process cycled through once more and Arisu turned to face the guests. "In front of you is a small cup of sake as well. Drinking your glass symbolizes that the unity isn't limited to just the two of them, but reaches out to their family and friends. We drink together now as a combined family," Arisu raised her glass up, the rest of the guests doing the same.

Matsumoto stood up and held her now empty cup up high. "Let's get this celebration started, hm? More sake all around!"

----------**  
Yay. :D Finally married. I altered the traditional wedding ceremony a bit to make things less complicated; usually there's a shrine and a priest and more outfit changes and whatnot, but meh. Chapter 27 up tomorrow at some point, hopefully. :D Day one as a married couple!**


	28. Chapter TwentySeven

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

A/N: 'kay so. **I made a boo-boo**. :D I hadn't watched a whole load of Bleach when I started writing these fic so the timeline of who went to school when wasn't exactly clear to me. That, and I was egged on by someone to include some Toushiro x Momo stuff, so that's why they're at school / graduated in the wrong order and blahblah. That, and I was a bit lazy (I'll admit it) to try to find or think up new names and I really didn't think people would get bothered by a couple of names in the wrong time period if they were never really going to show up again, so I picked random characters (like Tousen and Shuuhei). I know NOW that Momo went to school with Rukia (thanks to Byakuxhisa4eva and a careful rewatching of a number of episodes). My mistake. If it irks people enough, **let me know**, and I'll go back and change it all.

Oh, and thelovablechelsea! I'll forgive you if you forgive me for not updating when I said I would. Deal? Haha, my mom changed my cello lesson to be a day earlier so I had to cram like crazy to be able to pull it off. T-T

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN

As the wedding celebration continued on, guests slowly began to give their congratulations before leaving for their houses. Eventually, only a handful of people actually remained at the manor, a very drunk Matsumoto included. The remaining few had stayed because she had threatened their lives if they left, Captain Ukitake, who was very amused by this, among them.

After chugging down another small bottle of sake, Matsumoto finally passed out, the guests who were forced to stay standing up quickly, bowing and congratulating the married couple and leaving as fast as they could without making things too obvious.

Hisana had gotten very sleepy and ended up leaning her head against her husband's shoulder, and had, in turn, fallen asleep there. Byakuya hadn't noticed that she was asleep yet, too preoccupied with making sure Matsumoto didn't break anything in her drunken fury that people were leaving the party 'early'. Now that she had finally pushed herself to the limit of falling asleep from the alcohol, things were finally starting to clam down.

Ukitake approached Hisana and Byakuya with a smile. "I believe it's time for me to go. Give my regards to her when she awakens, hm?"

Byakuya looked down at Hisana, his tired and plain expression turning into a smile as he nodded. Ukitake gave a slight wave, and left the estate. At this point, the passed out Matsumoto was the only one who remained out of the guests.

Byakuya had assumed she was going to want to stay the night and had taken the necessary preparations; she was to stay in one of the guest rooms. Arisu had, at one point or another, pointed out that since Hisana really didn't need her guest room any longer, Matsumoto could simply stay there, since it was already set up. To Byakuya, it wasn't a bad idea.

Signaling servants forward, he quietly commanded them to somehow get Matsumoto to her room, and then allowed them to call it a night afterwards. They could clean in the morning, he decided, and the servants, too tired to function much longer, were certainly pleased with his decision.

"Hisana."

She stirred in her sleep opening her eyes slowly. "Hm...?"

"We have to get inside, Hisana." Byakuya smiled softly as she rubbed her eyes sleepily. How could someone be so adorable?

"But I'm comfy here..." She snuggled closer to him, wrapping her arms around his arm as she closed her eyes again.

Arisu, whose eyes were starting to close as she walked from being tired and a little drunk, slowly approached them. She scrunched her nose, realizing that the chairs they were in were impossible for him to get out of with a sleeping woman latched onto his arm. "That's a bit of a problem... I was going to suggest you carry her. Oh well. Good luck with that." And with that, Arisu headed into the manor to call it a night.

Byakuya sighed and decided to try again, this time, moving his hand to her shoulder to shake her lightly. "Hisana..."

Hisana sat up this time, rubbing her eyes once more and looking around. "Everyone left...?"

Byakuya nodded, successfully suppressing a yawn. "With the exception of your friend, that is."

"I didn't get to say goodbye... they must think I'm rude." Hisana yawned and frowned.

Byakuya shook his head at this and stood, stretching a bit before offering his hand to her. "They stayed too long; you grew tired. Of the two situations, yours is far less rude."

---

Hisana stopped once they had stepped into the manor and looked around. "Which way do I go now? Do I have to get my stuff?"

"It's done already, Hisana-sama." Kanaye approached the two of the with a tired smile. "And your things have been transferred into the master bedroom as well, Byakuya-sama."

Hisana blinked in a sleepy confusion, not noticing the change in honorifics used by Kanaye. "Transferred? Your room wasn't the master one?"

Byakuya shook his head. "That's the room I've had since I was a child. I never wanted to move into the other room alone; it's far too big and lonely for just one person."

Hisana's jaw dropped, the realization of how big the room must be knocking the sleepiness away. "The other room... is... bigger?" His current room could easily fit four people, dozens of kimonos, allow movement, and still have tons of room to spare. Was a bigger room even POSSIBLE?

Kanaye nodded. "Do you wish for me to come with you in case you need anything, Byakuya-sama?"

Byakuya shook his head with a smile. "It's alright, Kanaye. I'm sure I'll be able to fend for myself for the night. You can go to sleep."

---

"Oh... my... goodness." Hisana took a step into the room and blinked several times, jaw dropped. "This is..."

"Our room." Byakuya stepped into the large room and walked over towards a closet, sliding its door open. "I need to figure out were everything is now... No, this one's yours."

"Mine...?" She watched him slide the door shut and open the closet right next to it. She approached the closet and slowly slid the door open. "But these kimonos aren't mine..."

Byakuya looked over. "They aren't?" He slid the closet the door of the closet he was looking through shut, standing next to Hisana to look at the kimonos carefully. "No, these are yours."

"Are not. I know what I own, and these most certainly are not mine."

"They are. Now, at least." Byakuya half-smiled, the effects of the small amounts of sake he drank and the lack of sleep in recent days finally catching up to him. "They come with the whole marrying a noble business."

"... they... you..." Hisana's eyes went wide, as she quickly shut the closet door shut. "You didn't!"

"Didn't what? You didn't expect to get nothing for a wedding gift from the clan, did you?" Byakuya slowly opened his haori and went back to his closet to hang it up.

Hisana frowned and looked around the room. She sighed and looked back at Byakuya. "I can't accept all those kimonos, Byakuya-sama. Or all this."

"You can't turn any of it down. If you did, they would end up being mine. Thus, yours regardless, because, unfortunately for you, we're married." He smiled before continuing, "Anyways, let's get ready to sleep..."

"That's all the exploring you're going to do?" Hisana looked around the room again.

"We can explore tomorrow morning. I'm tired."

Hisana forced down a giggle. He certainly sounded like it, and, for some strange reason, she found it adorable. She walked over to her closet. "Now which of these are meant for sleeping...?"

After finally figuring out what she was going to wear to sleep, she wandered off across the immensely large room and into what she thought was going to be a bathroom. She found herself to be correct and after fussing with the over-kimono to get it off, she struggled in opening her obi and failed miserably. Stepping out of the bathroom, she found Byakuya taking out his hairpiece, already changed into his night clothes.

"...I need help." She blushed a deep red as he looked towards her.

"With?" He put the hairpiece down and ruffled his hair slightly, making it fall down across his face as it naturally would.

She blushed a deeper red and turned around to reveal a tightly knotted obi. "This."

"Did Arisu do it?" Byakuya approached her slowly and saw her nod. "She did it on purpose so I'd have to help you get it open. Plotting things as always..."

She felt him tug on the obi gently and felt it come loose.

"There."

"Well... what exactly would result from you helping me open the obi?" Hisana turned her head over her shoulder, watching him collect the fabric of the obi slowly, frowning when he didn't respond but simply held up the fabric for her to take it.

---

Hisana walked out of the bathroom minutes later to find Byakuya already under the covers of the bed, the lamp on the bedside table the only source of light, aside from the moonlight, in the room. She shyly walked over and sat down on the bed next to him, slowly lifting the covers and scooting closer to him. "Now..."

"Hm?"

She snuggled close to him, resting her head on his chest. "What's the deal with the whole obi thing?"

"It's nothing."

Hisana frowned and sat up. "Tell me..."

Byakuya shook his head. "It's not a big deal, Hisana."

She furrowed her brow, beginning to get annoyed. "You're not supposed to keep things from me... If it's not a big deal, why can't you just tell me?"

"Because I don't want to." Byakuya forced himself to keep a straight face, finding her stubbornness more adorable than usual.

"Why can't you just... why must you... why do you..." Hisana felt flustered, something about the way his hair fell into his face and the expression on his face had an effect on her she had never experienced before. "If you won't tell me, you could always show me!"

"Show you...?"

Hisana nodded. "Why? Is that a problem?"

Byakuya shook his head slowly and leaned forward, pressing his lips against hers briefly before pulling back a small distance, their lips brushing as he moved to kiss her cheek softly before reaching back to turn off the lamp.

----------  
**Sorry it took me so long; had a bit of a conflict with my mom that totally destroyed my mood and will to write for a bit. But it's all better now, kinda. Oh, I started to finally use the LJ I've had for months, so if anyone has a livejournal and wants to add meeee, the link is in my profile. :D My life is actually very boring, though, so yeah. :P Update up tomorrow.**


	29. Chapter TwentyEight

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

"We really should go down for breakfast..."

"Just a bit longer?"

"But everyone will be wondering why we're taking so long..."

"Let them wonder..."

"They'll send Kanaye-san to come get us."

"I'll send him away." Byakuya kissed the top of Hisana's head gently, drawing her closer to him. "I want to stay here a little longer."

Hisana rest her head on her husband's shoulder, placing her hand on his chest as he absentmindedly ran his fingers up and down her arm. "Alright..."

She had to admit she liked being there next to him under the covers, and she certainly didn't mind staying there with him. But the clan's opinion of her wasn't a good one, she felt, and making their leader late to breakfast on the first day after their marriage wasn't a good way to start things off.

So she made up her mind that she would make sure they got out of bed bright and early, but that was before he had asked her if they could stay longer. What was it about him? Something made it impossible for her to say no ... was it the look in his eyes? The tone of his voice?

She smiled and moved her hand up to fiddle around with his hair. _Soon,_ she decided, _we'll get out of bed soon._

---

As expected, the clan members were becoming impatient and complained to Kanaye, who was the servant who dealt with Byakuya the most, that they refused to wait much longer. "Things were better back when he was in a fight with this girl," one of them had remarked, "at least then he would come down and let us eat."

Matsumoto and Arisu were chatting amongst themselves, both tossing around different reasons as to why the two of them hadn't come down for breakfast yet. Matsumoto was convinced the two of them had a hangover as bad as hers, and Arisu simply decided that her tightly knotted obi was the explanation to everything.

The clan member who had made the remark earlier stood up. "If you don't go get him, I will. I don't have any problems barging in on him and forcing him out of the room, with or without that silly commoner."

"Silly commoner?" Byakuya stepped into the room, Hisana next to him with a sad expression.

Arisu smirked. "Perfect timing, as always."

"Whether you like it or not," Byakuya began, walking towards his chair with Hisana, his eyes always on the clan member who had made the remark, "She has more power in this clan than you do." Pulling out her seat for her, he waited for Hisana to sit down before finally sitting down in his own seat.

Hisana looked down at her lap, disappointed in herself for thinking that things were going to be different once they were married. She felt Byakuya's hand on her cheek and looked up as he put a stray strand of her hair behind her ear, leaning in to give her a soft kiss on the lips. "I'm sorry."

The room, which had broken into a quiet chatter, went uncomfortably silent, everyone's eyes drawn towards their clan leader, who now had his forehead pressed against his wife's. They saw him respond to Kanaye's question about bringing out the food by nodding while remaining in that same position, and most of the clan members were visibly uncomfortable with what they were witnessing.

Once the food had been set on the table, the two of them decided to keep their eyes locked from a distance, at least until the food had been placed on their individual plates.

Arisu smiled. "It's your first meal as a married couple, you realize?"

Matsumoto sighed in annoyance. "The first meal isn't as important as the first night! How did you two sleep? Did you GET sleep?"

Hisana blushed and nodded slowly, looking away from Byakuya. "Yes, we got sleep."

Arisu raised an eyebrow. "Is that so? And how was the obi knot? Did that give you any trouble?"

Hisana shook her head. "Well, we did have a tiny... conflict regarding it. And then we..." She trailed off, turning bright red.

Matsumoto's jaw dropped as Arisu smirked. "Then you...?" Arisu began eating her food.

Byakuya rolled his eyes. "And then we went to sleep."

"Oh really now? Hisana-chan's blush tells me otherwise, dear cousin."

---

After breakfast, each of the clan members slowly began standing up to leave the table, eventually leaving Hisana, Byakuya, Arisu and Matsumoto alone.

Matsumoto looked at Byakuya suddenly. "Oh, Captain Kuchiki. Does this mean Hisana-chan's going to be in your division?"

Byakuya shook his head. "She's not joining a division."

Matsumoto's eyebrow raised. "And why not?"

Hisana sighed. "Because I have far less of a chance of dying here at the estate than I do if I was on a mission."

Matsumoto frowned. "Hisana-chan! You're lucky! I WISH I could get away from having to go on missions and do paperwork and whatnot..."

Arisu slowly lifted her cup of tea and went to take a sip. "Oh, that's right! We need to do the tea ceremony!"

"... tea ceremony?" Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "Not another one of your silly made-up ceremonies, is it?"

Arisu shook her head, frowning. "My ceremonies aren't silly! Anyways! This is how this works." She refilled Hisana and Byakuya's cups with new tea. "What you have to do... is drink the tea at the same time, and then go to put your glasses down at the same time."

"And what is this ritual of yours for?" Byakuya slowly took the cup of tea in his hand.

"Well, it's to make sure that the two of you grow old and die together. But let me finish. If one of you puts the cup down even a second late, it's said you'll be the first to die."

Hisana frowned as she took the cup into her own hands. "Wouldn't a ceremony like this jinx our chances of living a long life together?"

Byakuya shook his head. "Arisu's just making it up. Just play along with it and she'll leave you alone." He lifted the glass to his lips.

Hisana nodded slowly and went to drink the tea at the same time Byakuya did, lowering it and going to put it down.

"Quickly, Hisana-chan! He's going to beat you to... it..." Matsumoto frowned as Hisana's cup landed on the table less than a second after Byakuya's.

Arisu frowned. "You're supposed to put it down at the same time! Now I can't be all cheery saying you'll grow old and die together."

Matsumoto scrunched her nose. "Does this thing come true usually?"

Arisu shrugged. "My mother told me that when she did it for Bya-chan's parents, his father put the cup down last and he died in a mission years before his wife died."

Hisana looked at Byakuya with a trace of fear and sadness in her eyes.

"But that was probably just a strange coincidence. No need to worry, Hisana-chan." Arisu patted her on the back with a toothy grin. "Your fool of a husband will probably end up getting himself killed in a battle before you die anyways."

----------  
**Chapter 29 up within the next two days! D; For now, it's time for sleep.**


	30. Chapter TwentyNine

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

hippi926840: Shmagination is a hard word to say. T-T And who said I was leaving it up to your imagination? Not completely! After all, Matsumoto and Arisu haven't had time alone with Hisana yet. Mehehehe.

A/N: Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOUUUU all for 200 reviewssss. :DDDD!

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

"I have to get to the office now." Byakuya frowned, putting down his now empty cup.

Arisu's jaw dropped. "They didn't give you a day off?"

Byakuya shook his head and let out a sigh, standing.

Hisana put down her glass as well and looked at Byakuya sadly. "Could I... come with you?"

Byakuya forced a smile, shaking his head. "I'm afraid I wouldn't be able to concentrate very much."

"But I..." Hisana pouted, as she also stood out of her chair slowly, moving to stand in front of him. "We just..."

Byakuya took her hand and bowed slightly, looking up at her with a smile. "As soon as I return from work today..." He planted a gently kiss on the back of her hand before continuing, "I will try my very best to make it up to you."

Hisana blushed a deep red, following his eyes as he stood upright once more. "Promise?"

Byakuya nodded. "With every facet of my soul."

---

Shortly after her husband left the manor, Hisana found herself sitting on their bed, staring out the window as she counted down the minutes.

She found herself suddenly staring at Arisu, who had thrown herself onto the bed to sit in front of her. She blinked repeatedly and fell backwards when Matsumoto decided to join in soon after, jumping onto the bed.

Arisu was snickering. "So, my dear. We want details."

"Details...?" Hisana sat up slowly and scooted back to lean against the head board. "Details of what?"

Matsumoto leaned forward eagerly. "You know! Last night!"

Hisana blushed a deep red, obviously remembering what had happened the night before, and looked away. "What about last night?"

Arisu rolled her eyes and slid off the bed to shut the door. "Come on, Hisana-chan. Who made the first move?"

Hisana didn't respond, deciding instead to lift up a pillow and bury her face into it.

Arisu sat back down on the bed and furrowed her brow. "Well... was it you?"

Hisana looked up with wide eyes and shook her head. "I don't... want to talk about this, Arisu-san."

Arisu grinned. "Of course you do!"

Hisana shook her head quickly. "How do you know anything actually happened last night, anyways?"

Matsumoto raised an eyebrow. "You think the blushing when we asked wasn't enough?"

Arisu reached forward to try to pull the pillow away, only to have Hisana pull it back away from her grasp. "Come on now. Did my obi help out at all?"

Hisana was quick to bury her face into the pillow again, deciding that blocking out their questions and leaving them with no response was much easier than discussing things.

---

At some point during her attempt to wait for Byakuya to return, Hisana found herself struggling to keep her eyes open. Considering the little sleep she had gotten the night before, she realized with a trace of a blush, it was only normal for her to be tired. Especially now that she was getting bored.

During her time at the academy, she was able to practice demon magic, or train with her friends if she ever got bored or lonely. But now, alone in the large room that was now her bedroom, she realized she had nothing to do except sit around and wait for her husband to return.

She could always walk around the grounds, but the looks she got from some of the clan members still made her shiver and she wasn't sure she was ready to deal with those without Byakuya there to help soften their glares.

What about wandering Seireitei? No, that wasn't a good idea. She had a horrid sense of direction and would probably end up getting lost. So then there was always the option of her spending time with her best friend, but Matsumoto was off giggling with Arisu, the two of them acting highly suspicious and sending her away whenever she tried to get near.

Kanaye had suggested she took a nap since she looked tired, and Hisana had simply nodded, acknowledging that it was certainly a good idea.

And now, Hisana found herself on the bed, staring at the wall, her eyes drooping shut every so often only to be forced back open. _Maybe I should just nap... when Byakuya-sama comes back, I'm sure he'd wake me._ Hisana sighed. _No, he'd let me sleep... _She felt her eyelids getting heavier and yawned, feeling them slide shut without her being able to do much about it.

---

Soon after, or at least what had felt like soon after, Hisana's eyes slowly slid open to the feeling of a strong arm wrapped around her. She glanced out the window to see the sun setting as she slowly turned over to face the warm figure that was resting behind her.

She reached up to move a strand of hair that had fallen into her sleeping husband's face only to pull her hand back when she saw his eyes open slowly. The smile that had been creeping across her face slowly faded into a frown. "Did I wake you?"

He shook his head slowly and smiled slightly. "I wasn't entirely asleep. Resting my eyes."

Hisana raised an eyebrow, a trace of a smile crossing her lips. "Oh REALLY?"

Byakuya nodded, slowly moving his hand up to brush against her cheek as he moved the stubborn hair that always remained in her face out of the way. He let he hand cup her face gently, the trace of the smile never leaving his face.

Hisana blushed slightly, moving her hand up to grasp his. "So... how was... work?"

Byakuya searched her eyes briefly and sighed before responding, "Painstakingly slow." He planted a kiss on her forehead before sitting up slowly. Hisana also moved to sit and stretched before hopping of their bed to look at Byakuya.

Byakuya didn't have his kenseikan in, she noticed, and he was looking at her with the expression she couldn't quite figure out, even now. She blushed and looked herself over quickly before looking back at him. "What...?"

Byakuya smiled softly and shook his head, his gaze steady. "No, nothing..."

Hisana furrowed her brow with a pout and she sat on the bed before crawling over to him. "What is it?"

"You're beautiful, that's all..." Byakuya pulled her close to him, kissing her gently on the lips before scooping her up into his arms and sliding off the bed. He slowly put her down and smiled at her when she reached up to ruffle his hair before wrapping her arm around his. "Let's see if dinner's ready."

Hisana nodded slowly, admitting to herself that she was getting rather hungry. "And then you have to fulfill your promise from earlier."

Byakuya slid the bedroom door open and stepped out with her, sliding the door shut behind them. "Yes, but you have to decide exactly what I have to do."

"So you'll do anything...?" Hisana looked up at Byakuya and watched him nod. "Hm... alright. I'll think about it..."

----------  
**Chapter 30 up soon. Sorry for the delay. I've been having my share of personal problems all of a sudden; things were supposed to clear up after school let out, but obviously not. But there should be relatively smooth sailing from here on out, I hope.**


	31. Chapter Thirty

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me. **

I'm still alive! I'm sososososo sorry that I haven't been able to update more; things have been massively hectic and with pointless stress being bounced around, writer's block had attacked me massively. But I've conquered it, and the result was this chapter! Huzzah!

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER THIRTY

After thinking for the majority of the day, Hisana finally decided that a trip to Rukongai holding hands would be more than enough to make it up to her. Matsumoto, who had managed to force her way into staying another night, and Arisu were both extremely unhappy with her choice since they knew Byakuya was going to go out with her to Rukongai even if she hadn't asked; they went every night without missing anyways.

Thus the married couple went to Rukongai again and searched Inuzuri once more for Hisana's missing sister, only to return to their home tired and unsuccessful. Needless to say, they both went straight to sleep shortly after arriving back at the manor, much to Arisu's dismay.

The elders, who were still unhappy with the situation of the Kuchiki household, were convinced that the magic of this relationship would die down after a week of having to deal with sleeping in the same bed and spending all their free time together. Much like with their other ideas and scenarios, they had approached their clan leader with their warning only to be banished from his sight and ignored for the rest of the day.

In all such cases, the elders were proven wrong. One time, for example, they had said the relationship wouldn't even last long enough to see Hisana graduate from the Academy. It obviously had. Another time, they told Byakuya that while he was set on marrying her now, that wouldn't always the be case and before he decided to finally propose to her, he would have already moved on. Another obvious mistake; the two were now happily married.

And so a week passed at the manor, and the two seemed to be generally inseparable. Except, of course, when Byakuya had work to attend to. The elders, who had been waiting patiently for something to go wrong, were silent at breakfast the day that marked a full week of marriage. Not one of them bothered to speak up, nor did Byakuya bother to point out they were wrong.

Matsumoto had been invited to spend the day at the manor with Hisana and Arisu while Byakuya was off at the office, an invitation she happily and quickly accepted. Byakuya had left the manor for the day after breakfast, Matsumoto arriving shortly afterwards. The three of them went into the master bedroom again, after forcing permission out of Hisana, and sat on the bed in a triangular formation.

Hisana still hadn't budged regarding what she and her husband did in their private time, her blushes giving away more than she wanted to reveal. Eventually, Arisu gave up in pestering things out of her cousin-in-law and resorted to just plain conversation, most of which still remaining centered around their relationship. However, Hisana didn't seem to mind. On the contrary, Hisana loved reliving the cute things Byakuya had said to her, and the smile he gave her every time they made eye contact. It seemed he smiled with his eyes more, and she was quick to point out to her two closest friends that she enjoyed seeing him happy much more than they could imagine.

Arisu had noticed the complete change in her cousin's mood lately, and Matsumoto had noticed the constant joy in her best friend's eyes.

"You really love the ice cube, don't you?" Matsumoto inquired teasingly. Hisana hated when she called him an ice cube, which she instantly showed.

"He's not an ice cube if he gets to know you better, Rangiku-chan!" Hisana crossed her arms across her chest. "And as a matter of fact, I do."

Arisu couldn't help but smile at their exchange, looking back on exchanges she had with her cousin that were similar when they were children. "Have you told him so?"

Hisana nodded. "Many times. All the time. Whenever I can, I mean."

Matsumoto pursed her lips, contemplating if she should ask the next question or not. Arisu, however, ended up asking for her. "Has he ever said it back?"

Hisana went to nod but then faltered and furrowed her brow. "I... You know... I don't think he has..." She frowned slightly. "But I know he feels the same way. I can feel it."

"Feel it?"

"Yeah, you know... when we hold hands and hug... I can feel it." Hisana smiled once more. "That's enough for me."

Matsumoto brought her hand up to her chin thoughtfully. "I dunno, Hisana-chan. I'd wanna hear him say it if I were you. You should ask him why he hasn't."

Hisana shook her head. "I don't need him to say it. I really don't."

"But you have to admit... it would be wonderful if he did."

---

A single voice rang out angrily in a generally dark room of men sitting in a circular formation, the door to the room shut.

"Well, how do you propose we get rid of her then?"

Another voice, not as loud, replied calmly in explanation, "Killing her would be far too obvious, Byakuya would know it was us instantly. He's not stupid."

"We could send her sent on a mission. She graduated, did she not? What division did she register with?" Another voice asked, a trace of hatred in his voice.

"None. Byakuya made sure she would be safe from danger in missions," replied another.

"Ah, he plans ahead... not stupid, indeed..." The voices halted briefly, all the men in th room sitting in silence to think.

"I believe we should leave things as they are." A serene, yet strong, voice from near the center of the room suddenly spoke up.

"Why is that?" the second voice asked, with a trace of demand in his tone.

"I believe you can recall that I was never fully against this wedding in the first place; if Byakuya has found happiness with this girl, then that's fine. She isn't doing anything disgraceful. On the contrary, she has adapted to being a noble quite well and is doing much to HELP our name, not hurt it."

"What is this nonsense? Has the foolish boy gotten to you too?" The first voice rang out once more.

"I'm afraid if the boy is foolish, it would be my fault by genetics." The man's eyes were an ice cold blue-gray and his face had similarities to the 'boy' they were discussing. "He is my grandson, after all."

---

After Arisu and Matsumoto had left, Hisana considered what the two of them had said to her just minutes before. _It WOULD be nice if I heard him say it... _Hisana stood slowly and left the master bedroom, heading towards the entrance of the manor, patiently awaiting her husband, who was to return soon enough.

After only a few minutes, the door slid open to reveal the sixth division captain and the servant who was bowing after the door had opened. Byakuya, who looked extremely tired initially, instantly smiled when he saw Hisana approach him. "What I pleasant thing to come home to..."

He pulled her close to embrace her and kissed the top of her head gently before looking down at her. "What have I done to receive the honor of being personally greeted by the mistress of the house?"

Hisana blushed, but only slightly, before responding, "Who said anything about being honored? I was simply going out for a walk." She looked away with a mock-coldness, before smiling and looking back at him. "Would you care to join me in a walk around the grounds?"

"I would love to," he replied. "But..." Byakuya looked down at his outfit before looking back at his wife. "May I get changed first?"

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**A lot of people have been wondering how much longer this fic is going to be, and quite honestly, I have no idea. I haven't exactly completely plotted out my battle plan, but I have sketched things out. So, yeah. I'll have a more definite answer soon enough. And as far as how often I can update; I'll try to manage at least a chapter a week. Chapter 31 up by 7/21. (Edit! The Harry Potter 7 release momentarily escaped my memory. Seeing as how I'm going to be reading it nonstop until I get to the back cover, I won't be able to be writing. So. Chapter 31 up ON 7/23, even if I have to put the book down to do so.)  
**


	32. Chapter ThirtyOne

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me.**

Yay for power outages destroying cable internet access! ;-;...

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

"So what was it you wanted to talk about, Hisana?"

Hisana looked up as Byakuya approached her from their room in an outfit that certainly looked more comfortable than the one he had on previously. Instead of his usual death god uniform, he was instead wearing a white outfit made of light cloth. He had left his scarf in the bedroom and he was without his kenseikan, which meant, according to Hisana's careful observance of his personality, that he had endured an agonizingly long day at work.

"Who said anything about wanting to talk about anything?" Hisana took a step towards the exit of the manor and put her hand on the door handle before jumping back to watch the servant slowly slide the door open for her, something she still hadn't gotten used to.

Byakuya raised an eyebrow and followed her out of the manor, walking next to her down the stone path. "You think I don't know you well enough by now...?"

Hisana let out what Byakuya interpreted as a troubled sigh. "I was just wondering a few things, that's all..." She looked in the direction that led to the exit of the grounds and then down the path that led towards the bridge over the river.

"Such as?" Byakuya glanced down at her with a frown. There seemed to be some sort of distance between the two of the them.

"You know... usual... girl-ish stuff." Hisana looked up at her husband with a forced smile before looking away. _How does one approach someone such as him with such a trivial concept...?_

She turned down the path heading deeper into the Kuchiki grounds. _Why did I let what they said bother me so much? I know he loves me... it's me who's over-compensating for my inability to return the same amount of affection by constantly saying m_y _feelings. What if.. _She took a turn towards the large cherry blossom tree. _What if he decided he won't say he loves me until he's certain I feel the same amount of affection towards him...?_

Byakuya frowned at their silence, but simply walked on and left Hisana to her thoughts. She must have a lot on her mind, he decided, to have such a sudden change in personality. They approached the large tree slowly, with not much said and very few glances exchanged. Hisana slowly sat down under the tree and patted the spot next to her gently. Once he was seated, Hisana went to lean her head against his shoulder and let out a deep sigh as Byakuya brought his hand up to run his fingers through her hair.

Several minutes passed in silence until Hisana finally sat up and turned to look at him. She furrowed her brow and bit her lip. Staring at her husband intently, she took a deep breath. "Do you love me?"

Hisana watched his eyes widen slightly and looked away from him, waiting for his response. "Of course I do... I thought you knew that..."

"It's just..." She trailed off, raising her gaze to meet his eyes again.

"Is that what's been bothering you?"

Hisana nodded. "Rangiku-chan and Arisu-san spent time with me today and we talked about it, that's all... I just... I realized... that... well... you've never actually said it..."

Byakuya pursed his lips a bit and sat back against the tree as Hisana looked down at her lap and continued. "And I was just... wondering why... or... maybe... I mean... I don't need you to... but... I guess I was wondering if you would say it or..."

Byakuya watched her knot and lace her fingers about in her lap, sighing as he sat up once more. "I'm not one fond of expressing myself in words," he explained. "I've found that words have a tendency to fail me."

Hisana looked up at him as he continued, "I don't see how saying it would make so much of a difference." Hisana looked down at her lap again. "It should not," he went on to say, "since I try to show my feelings to you in every way possible."

"I don't see why it would be so difficult to say it, though..." Hisana looked up at him once more. "I'm not fond of 'expressing' myself either, but I still tell you I love you."

"You're not fond of expressing yourself, indeed..." Byakuya looked away from her.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"You tell me you feel that way, but when it comes to genuinely proving it to me, you seem to hold back." He slowly moved his gaze back to his wife.

"...that's... not fair..."

"Is it fair, then, that you ask things of me which I don't feel comfortable giving?" His usually warm and soft gaze had hardened and become cold, causing Hisana to look away from him.

"You... can't compare... you know how important finding Rukia is to me... you... that's not fair..." Hisana felt her eyes begin to burn as she stood up, turning away from him.

Byakuya frowned and narrowed his eyes slightly, the tension in the air thick to the point where breathing calmly was a challenge. Hisana turned back to face him with tears threatening to spill from her eyes, looking down at her husband who had resumed leaning against the tree. "I... I'm going to search for Rukia now... I think we go too late and she must already be sleeping... so... looking a little earlier might..."

"Fine then. I assume you wouldn't mind going alone. I have work to do." Byakuya stood up slowly and began heading towards the manor.

---

After Hisana had ran past Byakuya and out of the estate's grounds, she continued running until she had found herself at the gate between Seireitei and Rukongai. She hadn't come down here alone in a very long time, she realized with a bolt of sadness striking her body. Glancing around, she began heading towards Inuzuri slowly, wiping away any traces of tears from her face.

After what felt like a lonely eternity, she looked around at the shambled houses that made up the district she had grown up in and looked down at her outfit with a frown. She looked far too rich to be out here without protection... or her husband, for that matter.

She looked around nervously. Suddenly a young voice from around the corner rang out, leaving Hisana momentarily shocked with eyes wide.

"Hey! Rukia! Wait up!"

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**The good aspect of losing internet and power is that you little to do and writing a chapter by hand gets pretty tempting when you're bored. So most of the next chapter is already written, I just have to type what I have and finish it. Should be up before friday. :D**


	33. Chapter ThirtyTwo

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me.**

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

_Rukia...?_ Hisana bolted around the corner and looked around for any signs of the source of the young voice, or a girl with black hair. Now put in this situation, she realized that she has no idea what her sister would look like by this age... What if she walked right passed her each night and didn't realize it?

A small boy with red hair was running off in the distance; was he the one who had called for her sister? Hisana followed quickly, all the while looking around. It was getting late; the children were probably going to go finish playing their games soon. As she reached the outskirts of Inuzuri, Hisana looked around frantically for traces of the boy, or a girl who could have been Rukia, only to find herself come to the banks of a river that had no signs of children.

Turning back with an immense feeling of defeat, she head back into the main area of Inuzuri. She looked around and approached a person she had assumed to be a merchant. _It never hurts to ask if he knows of Rukia... _"Excuse me, sir..." The man turned to face her. "Do you know... if there's a little girl in this district named Rukia...?"

The man raised his eyebrow. "Rukia? No, can't say that I do..." He motioned in the direction the boy had run off in. "There's the boy named Renji... Quite the trouble makers, him and his friends. They have a new kid in their group of vandals now... those children are doomed to be failures..."

"Renji...?" Hisana frowned. "Is there anyone else I could ask...?"

The man nodded with a smirk. "Just in there." He pointed towards a doorway that was closed off by a tattered cloth. "Someone in there might know."

Inside the building, Hisana found herself feeling even more out of place than ever. The few women who were in the room weren't wearing very much at all, their tattered outfits purposely made more revealing to attract the vast amount of men sitting around the bar.

Unfortunately for her, her entrance hadn't gone unnoticed. Many heads were turned, mutters and gestures in her direction followed, and snickers from some of the men were soon the main source of Hisana's nervousness. She was approached by a man from the bar who seemed to be the cleanest of the bunch; his hair wasn't as disheveled, his outfit was less tattered, and he even looked friendlier than most of the men in the room. "We don't see many like you around here."

Hisana nodded slowly. "I'm... looking for my sister."

The man raised his eyebrow. "Your sister? Sorry, miss. We doubt your sister would be in a place like this. Not if she's anything like you."

"Her name is Rukia... she should be around seven years old." Hisana glanced around the room once more nervously. "The man outside said I could ask in here... he said someone might know."

"Tell ya what. Come sit at the bar and wait a while. I'll ask around for ya." The man began heading towards the bar and forced two people out of their seats, motioning for Hisana to come over. Hisana looked around once more before hesitantly walking towards him and sitting down. The man placed a hand on her shoulder. "I'll need some sort of... payment, however. For my services."

"Payment?" Hisana frowned, looking towards the door. "I have nothing to pay with... I could come back?"

The man smirked and ran his hand down her arm. "No, you have plenty to pay with."

Hisana's eyes widened and she jerked her arm away from his touch. "I'm sorry, I have nothing I can give you. If you're not going to help, I can search on my own."

The man's smirk grew. "No, I'm afraid I can't let you do that." He reached his hand out and grasped her wrist tightly. "You'll have to stay."

Hisana pulled her arm back in an attempt to pull free, but to no avail. "Let go of me!"

A few more men stood from their spots, the man holding onto her wrist letting out a chuckle. "I love it when they struggle..."

---

Byakuya sat at the dinner table, elbows on the table, fingers laced together and hands brought up to rest under his chin. The argument he had with Hisana just over two hours ago had been tormenting him continuously and now that the dinner table had been set and there was no sign of his wife, he couldn't help but worry. While their argument had certainly had, at the time, a valid reason to occur, it seemed almost childish to him now that he had gotten upset at her. He knew that she wanted to find her sister more than anything, and he had thought that he respected and accepted that.

It was obvious that part of him hadn't and try as he might, he was unsuccessful in keeping this selfish part of himself tucked away once THAT touchy subject had been brought up.

But it shouldn't take Hisana so long to get back, should it? Just a quick look around Inuzuri and she should have returned. She wasn't the type to hold a grudge, or to stay out long enough for people to worry. _Something must be wrong_, he realized, standing up abruptly. "I'm going to Rukongai," he announced to the members of the clan that had looked curiously in his direction. "You may commence the meal without me."

---

Hisana struggled to keep the man at an arm's distance from her, all the while trying to pry her wrist away from the man. Why had she decided to go out alone? And without her soul slayer, no less. Had she honestly thought she wouldn't run into trouble in a place like this?

Just then, a pale-faced man burst into the bar. It was the merchant from earlier. He looked around nervously.

"What is it?" the man holding on to Hisana's wrist asked, sounding annoyed and bored all at once.

"A shinigami captain!" Another man had burst into the bar as well, pushing the merchant out of the way. "There's a shinigami captain on the way!"

"A captain? Impossible. Why would they waste time here?" The man focused his attention back to Hisana with a grin. "Now... where were we?"

The red light of the sunset now shone directly into the bar, the cloth that made up the door of the entranceway pulled aside by a man in a black uniform and a white haori, one of his hands on his soul slayer's hilt.

"Byakuya-sama!" Hisana's face immediately showed signs of relief as she tried to tug her arm away from the man once more, still unsuccessful. Her relieved smile faded when she realized Byakuya still hadn't looked at her.

"A captain, huh?" The man tightened his grip, looking at Hisana. "What brings you here, _sir_?"

Byakuya didn't respond. Vanishing from the view of those in the bar, he immediately reappeared next to the man who was holding Hisana's wrist. "Let her go."

"Oh? And why should I?" He tightened his grip even more, Hisana wincing from pain.

Byakuya raised an eyebrow. "I see you do not wish to keep your arm. You will release her, or face the consequences."

The man smirked and turned back to Hisana, ignoring Byakuya's demand. While those around them didn't see Byakuya do anything, the man's eyes went wide and he instantly let go of Hisana's wrist. Grasping his own wrist, the now pale-faced man watched the blood trickle down to the floor before looking up at the death god who had inflicted the damage.

Hisana was quick to latch on to Byakuya's arm, and buried her face into the sleeve of his uniform. Still not looking down at his wife, he turned towards the door silently and flashed stepped out of the bar, stopping just beyond the corner where Hisana had heard, or thought she heard, her sister's name.

A few moments of silence passed between them, neither of them moving. Hisana raised her head and looked up at him to see two very relieved eyes looking down at her.

"I figured you would know what type of people lived here after living here yourself..." Byakuya frowned. "That was careless..."

Hisana nooded slowly, looking down the path the red-haired boy had run down just before. "But... you have to understand. I think I've almost found my sister."

Byakuya, who went to continue on to say something else to his wife, stopped and looked at her with a look of mild confusion.

"I heard... her name." She looked back up at her husband with a smile. "She's alive."

Byakuya nodded slowly with a smile creeping across his lips. The newly found hope and joy in her eyes had melted away any and all of the ice that had momentarily returned to Byakuya's demeanor. He looked up at the sky to see the sun had fully set. "We can come back tomorrow, then. Early. She must have already gone to bed by now."

Hisana nodded happily and went to take her husband's hand when he had offered it. Upon making contact, Byakuya's smiled faded. Hisana, who didn't notice, started to walk back towards Seireitei only to be stopped short when she realized Byakuya hadn't moved. Turning back, she looked at him to see his face full of concern. "What is it?"

"Your hands..." Byakuya stepped up and took both of her hands in his and brought them together to be cupped in between his. "They're freezing..."

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**Chapter 33 up on or before wednesday. ;D As far as having a happy ending, I want to start a new fic that'll have a 'happy ending' for Byakuya and Hisana. So, I'm sticking with my decision of having Hisana die at the end of this one, and making an AU fic once this one is done.**


	34. Chapter ThirtyThree

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me.**

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

"My hands? Oh... that's from..." Hisana pulled her hands away from her concerned husband. "I guess it's from being so scared before."

Byakuya furrowed his brow slightly in concern. "Are you feeling well?"

Hisana nodded with a smile. "Yep. Let's just head home, okay?"

Nodding slowly, Byakuya took one of Hisana's cold hands back into his own and began heading back towards Seireitei.

Upon their arrival at the manor, Hisana's face seemed even more pale than usual. Perhaps it was just the light? "You're sure you're fine?"

Hisana nodded. "I'm positive; stop worrying. Cold hands don't mean I'm dying!"

Byakuya forced a smile. Of course she was right, having cold hands didn't mean she was dying at all. He pulled her into an embrace and ran his fingers through her hair. "I have to apologize for what I said earlier... I wasn't fair to you in any sense of the word."

Hisana shook her head quickly. "No no! It was me... I wasn't being fair at all. I shouldn't have put you in that position..." She looked up at him with a tired smile. "Can you forgive me?"

Byakuya nodded. "Only if you can do the same for me." He leaned down and planted a light kiss on her forehead only to pull back and look down at her, eyes filling with worry and concern once more.

"What is it...?" Hisana's smile faltered at the sight of his expression.

Byakuya reached his hands up to cup her face in his hands, leaning downwards to put his forehead against hers. "Let's head to bed, hm?"

"Your forehead is cold, Byakuya-sama." Hisana pulled her head away. "Are YOU feeling alright?"

Byakuya lowered his hands from her face and offered one for his wife to take. "I believe so."

---

While Hisana's hands never returned to their original temperature, the fever Byakuya had felt on her forehead the night before had vanished by the morning. Still concerned, but unable to stop Hisana from acting on her joy-induced adrenaline rush, he found himself following his wife to Rukongai only to return to Seireitei without a youngster to roam about the manor.

Regardless of their quite obvious failure, Hisana's spirit never seemed to falter. There were, of course, times during the course of the following weeks where Byakuya had began to believe her fever had caused her to imagine hearing her sister's name, but he wouldn't dare mention such a thing. He had never seen such a twinkle in her eyes. The hope of her sister still being somewhere in Rukongai fueled her in such a way that she was seemingly unstoppable.

That is, until several months had passed, and with the coming and going of their wedding anniversary and a couple extra months to follow, the flame that was Hisana's passion began to dwindle. And yet, she still continued to search, even in times where weather started to betray her.

One morning in winter, Hisana woke up to find herself shivering with her husband watching her wearing an expression of immense concern and fear, cradling her in his arms. "Byakuya-sama?"

Her voice was quiet, weak almost, and she furrowed her brow slightly as she tried to push herself up only to fall back down. She felt cold, yet her eyes and face burned; her throat was tight; her arms and legs felt weak. It hurt to breathe; it was hard to see; it was hard to think. The room was spinning, and worst of all, her husband hadn't spoken to her yet.

"Hisana..." Byakuya moved his hand slowly and took her small and frail hand into his as she slowly slid her eyes shut._ "_I've summoned the doctor," he said quietly.

The next few hours passed as a quick blur to Hisana. She had heard Byakuya's voice zone in and out a number of times, a woman's voice struggling to remain quiet she had assumed to be Arisu's, Matsumoto's loud squeal of worry, Kanaye paying respects as he brought cool water and a towel to press against her forehead, and a stranger's voice she decided to be the doctor's. There was, at some point, a cold hand put against her forehead, something gently placed in her mouth and removed shortly afterwards, and more quiet talking.

The hours that had moved quickly for Hisana had moved agonizingly slow in comparison for her concerned husband. He sat in silence, watching her sleep for the majority of the night, each minute passing as though it was an hour. Feeling she was simply suffering a nightmare, he waited and embraced her small and frail body until she had stopped. But her breathing had never regulated, and her shivering had never ceased.

"It appears to be a cold, Kuchiki-sama," the doctor decided, standing from his examination of the mistress of the household, "A severe one from being left alone for some time, but a cold nonetheless."

Byakuya nodded slowly and looked at Kanaye, who nodded as well, understanding what his master was going to request before he even went to say it. "I shall get started on the tea then, Byakuya-sama," he said softly, exiting the room.

The doctor, now packing his belongings back into the bag he had brought, continued, "Plenty of bed rest, tea, and constant supervision and she should be fine in no time." The doctor smiled and began to head towards the door. "She MUST stay in bed."

"Rukia..." Hisana forced out in a whisper, forcing her eyes open upon the realization that she couldn't go looking for her sister if she was to remain in bed.

Byakuya nodded, giving her a forced smile. "I'll look. I promise. Just rest." He watched his wife's eyes slide shut again as she smiled, drifting off to sleep once more.

---

After searching Rukongai alone, Byakuya returned to the manor for the sixth night. Hisana had started to recover; she could walk on her own now, and was often found roaming about the immensely large library of the Kuchiki manor. While reading hadn't been something she had been fond of during her school days, having not much else to do had sparked a new fondness for reading – even if the books she could reach were boring and only covered the history of Seireitei and the clan. Kanaye had suggested she use the ladder to find classic literature and whatnot, but it was and intimidating ladder, so she decided to stick to the history of the Kuchiki clan.

Flipping to the last page that was written on, she had hit an unfinished chapter which started with the death of the twenty-seventh clan leader and the shift of power to the twenty-eighth.

_The twenty-eighth clan leader, born on the final day of the first month, had been expected to follow in his father's footsteps in joining the shinigami elite ranks of the Gotei 13;_ _coming into power at the age of nine after the death of his father on a mission, many believed he was unsuited to rule and was simply following the advice of his mother when pressed with an important decision. During the Hollow attack on the Kuchiki household, Kuchiki Sayuri was reported missing and later found dead, leaving her son to rule for himself at the still young age of eleven years old. Since then, Kuchiki Byakuya has been the youngest to take power in the Kuchiki clan, as well as the most accomplished. By the age of fourteen he had already achieved his shikai, graduated from the shinigami academy, and became a seated officer of a Gotei 13 squad. Kuchiki Byakuya still continues to rule the Kuchiki clan to this date._

Hisana frowned. It was such a brief overview of the great things he had accomplished. There was no way the shinigami she had heard about from the first week she entered Seireitei could be summarized in a short paragraph. She slammed the book shut and forced it back onto the shelf. "Last day of the first month, huh?" She looked out the window, with a sigh. "That was the day I got sick..."

----------

**Okay, so I haven't posted in ages.** **I blame college for that.** **I thought freshman year wouldn't be TOO hard, but then I realized I was sorrily mistaken when I had to read over 100 pages of an obscenely boring book in a single night.** **But here's a chapter after what feels like decades. I'm going to try to get another chapter up by the end of the day, but if not, it should be up tomorrow night or the day after, even if it means not doing my paper. :D  
**


	35. Author's Plea for Forgiveness! Note

**Author's Note**

My dear readers! I owe you a sincere apology!

I haven't updated in ages. And there are several reasons for this. I'm not going to go on and give you excuse after excuse, but I'll give you a few semi-valid reasons.

Firstly, I got sick. Pneumonia's rather nasty and after you miss almost a month of classes, making it all up isn't fun.

Then there was a death in the family which was shortly followed by the internal implosion of my laptop. I had four chapters written and no time to post them when my computer crashed. Major bummer.

Needless to say, after all that nonsense, I lost motivation. I thought about writing each night, which was pushed out of the way my tedious make up assignments and practicing for a cello performance jury. But now, I've decided to update regardless, so if you're done hearing my rambles, click next and there it shall be!

**For those of you who have forgotten what's going on:** Hisana's seemingly getting better and she realized that she 'got sick' the same day as her beloved hubby's birthday.

And oh my goodness! 270 reviews?! Now I'll definitely have to write a fic with a happy ending (not this one, sorry)! Thank you all soooo much!

One last thing...** Juud**: Thanks for keeping up with me and sending me a PM way back when my computer loved me to rekindle my motivation. I reread your PMs and it really woke my then asleep love for Hisana/Byakuya right back up. And your friend also PM'd me :) Thanks a bunch, you two.

Alrighty! If you've gotten this far, brownie points for you! Now, off you go to read! I hope I don't disappoint anyone.

Much love,

Setarah

P.S. Don't forget to R&R! Oh, and updates will be more frequent now, I think.


	36. Chapter ThirtyFour

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Bleach or any of the characters associated with it. They belong to their respective owners. This storyline, however, does belong to me.**

**The House of Kuchiki**

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

"A surprise party? That's a wonderful--"

"--ly terrible idea."

"Arisu-san?"

Hisana stood in front of an eager Matsumoto and a stoic Arisu, her smile vanishing into a pout.

"He'll hate it." Arisu stood from the bed, shaking her head. "Honestly, in all these years, you still don't know him well, do you?"

"But I thought that since it seemed like we had forgotten his birthday, if we surprise him..." Hisana turned to look at Arisu who had now started to pace back and forth.

"I don't think it's a good idea, Hisana-chan. He's not one for parties; I'm sure he's mentioned it. The only party he has voluntarily attended was his wedding," Arisu stated, staring out of the master bedroom's window.

"Maybe you can do something else, Hisana-chan?" Matsumoto was standing next to her friend, an arm wrapped around her, her head leaning on Hisana's shoulder. "Get him a present or... lay in an untied kimono on the bed when he gets home surrounded by sakura... petals..."

Matsumoto looked around nervously, trying not to meet Arisu's critical gaze. "What? I don't picture these scenarios in my head or anything, it just popped up just now!"

Hisana, now blushing a scarlet red, looked at Arisu in desperation. "I wouldn't know what to get him."

Arisu rolled her eyes and reached forward, grabbing Hisana by the hand and pulling her out of the room. "Come on."

--

Byakuya sat in his office, reading and re-reading a report from some lower ranked officer in the sixth division, his patience wearing thin. How long had he been reading this incoherent piece of garbage? He gazed up at the clock. Thirty minutes. Felt longer. He looked back down at the report and finished reading it for the third time. Putting it aside, he lifted the next one, sighing as the tedious work that came with the start of a month.

"More reports regarding last month, captain." A death god lowered a stack onto the aggravated captain's desk. "Oh, and happy belated birthday, sir."

Byakuya grunted in response and sent the man away with a wave of his hand as he flipped the page of the report he was reading. Nothing significant yet again. Why not just write two sentences detailing how completely uneventful the month was rather than three pages of detailed day-to-day watch duty? "They must hate me," he muttered under his breath to another stack being placed on his desk.

This would be a long week.

--

"Got everything?" Arisu stood in front of Hisana, pointing at each item sloppily held up and about to fall to the ground, going through the list in her mind: _Cloth, needles, embroidery floss, pattern, wrapping paper, ribbon and the box. Alright. _She nodded to the cashier who took the items from Hisana with a bow and started to put them in a bag. "Thank you for your patronage, Kuchiki-sama."

Once the two of them had returned to the manor, Hisana sat down in her room and closed the door, closing herself off. She cut the cloth and held it out in front of her. She scrunched her nose and shook her head, going to cut another piece. _Nope, not good either..._

Five more tries and she was finally content; a square piece of white cloth. She smiled to herself and began humming a tune she had heard on the way home with Arisu, all the while struggling with a needle and some embroidery floss. _Did the holes have to be so tiny?_

Just as she successfully threaded her needle, she heard Kanaye open the manor doors. Hisana frowned, whispering under her breath. "He's home already?" Looking around, her eyes went wide. "I have to clean this mess!"

Running around frantically, she collected her scraps and bunched them together, passing the needle through them and stuffing them under the bed. Wiping her brow, she collapsed onto the bed and looked towards the doorway and see her husband standing there, eyebrow raised and smile creeping across his face. "Care to explain?"

"I was... um... trying to learn how to stitch. In case, you know... I rip something and need to patch it up as soon as possible," Hisana responded in a tone that sounded more questioning than anything else.

"Uh... huh..." Byakuya went to his closet and put his haori away and began slowly removing his uniform, obviously realizing that she was up to something. _I'll leave it be just to humor her._

"So... how was work?" Hisana asked nervously, trying to change the subject.

"Horrendous."

"Why's that?" She scooted up into a sitting position and watched her husband remove his hairpiece and place it on the dresser, trying to read his expression when he faced her.

"Reports."

"Oh... I'm sorry, Byakuya-sama." Hisana frowned and patted the spot next to her.

He shrugged and sat on the bed next to her. "You'd figure after all those years in the academy, at least one of them could write a decent report."

Hisana sighed and rested her head on his chest, smiling when she felt his hand reach up to run his fingers through her hair. "They're not perfect, Byakuya-sama."

"I know they're not, which is why I'm glad to have you to come home to, my dear Hisana." He planted a kiss on the top of her head and let out a deep breath. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better," she replied, turning her head to face him with a smile. "Arisu and I went shopping today."

Byakuya didn't respond but simply nodded. He looked so tired to Hisana, she could only imagine how much work he had accomplished today. And what had she done? Cut cloth into uneven pieces. Pitiful.

Struggling to keep his eyes open, Byakuya smiled at Hisana and leaned forward to plant a small kiss on her forehead, then kissed her nose and then her lips, causing her to blush as he lingered there briefly.

"I'm grateful, you know." His eyes slowly fluttered shut. "Having you when I get home. I was worried I'd lose you."

"Byakuya-sama?"

"Arisu's silly tea game," he mumbled. "It had me worried."

"From after the wedding?" Hisana moved her hand to move some hair out of his face.

Byakuya simply nodded, drifting to sleep. Leaning forward to kiss his forehead gently, Hisana smiled and curled up next to him, closing her eyes. _As long as I can help it... I'll never leave you, Byakuya-sama. _"I promise."

--

**'kay so, next chapter up in a couple days. Sorry it took me so long, everyone. I hope you can all forgive me. But it's great to be back! I've missed you all!**


	37. AN Holy Donut!

aisdnfaisdbfaisdfb!

So my domain name that I used for my e-mail here expired. And I forgot my password. And with no e-mail address to retrieve it, I was locked out of my own account. Which was fun.

UNTIL NOW. I figured it out after having one of those random brain blasts sitting around watching Bleach. That's not to say that it has to do WITH Bleach, but the brain works in mysterious ways.

Now, you must all hate me for vanishing for months and months. And I'm sorry beyond words.

But if you don't, I think I'm definitely going to continue to write this story. However, I'm going to start it over again in first person point of view because as I read this story over, I've realized that I've grown as a writer since what I wrote back then.

If you still want to read this story, (even though it's starting fresh and will most definitely change), leave a review and let me know if you'd rather have this from Hisana's POV, Byakuya's, or a mix between the two.

I love you all. And I've missed you! But I just need to get back into the swing of things with these two fantastic characters after all the other stuff I've been doing. School has owned my soul, but I'm on a medical leave for this semester and then transferring in the fall to another school that will probably make me happier, so I'll be free to write more.

Love you guys,  
Crystal


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